Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James has had one of his first truly uncertain offseasons in his historic career. For the first time, it felt as though he and agent Rich Paul have not had complete control over his future, as the Lakers were reportedly unwilling to discuss an extension beyond the 2025-26 season, and a lack of free agent options made it so LeBron’s only option was to pick up a $52 million player option and become a true expiring contract for the first time in his career.
Because of that, James and Paul have released multiple statements suggesting that the Lakers star may be on his way out the door and that he might be evaluating other options. This sent the NBA world into a frenzy with fake trades with the Cleveland Cavaliers, New York Knicks, Dallas Mavericks and more, even though James has not yet formally requested a trade.
And perhaps the reason for that is that Paul’s advice to LeBron this summer is to, as much as possible, block out the noise and just focus on living his life, via SiriusXM:
“There’s so many voices in today’s game and around today’s game in media and stuff like that, and everyone has a job to do. For us, let those people do their job, it’s not for us to rebuttal or try to give clarity on what’s said, what’s not said. That’s not the focus. The focus is, hey man, enjoy your summer… You can’t dispel everything someone has to say and you’ve been around this thing a lot time, there’s never been an expectation on anyone like it’s been on him. But my thing is just continue to find your joy. You can’t go out here and try to prove everyone wrong or try to align witth or make sure everyone is right. The critique is gonna be the critique, and this is for all players, by the way. I think everyone’s journey is a lot different.”
Despite LeBron not going into the season with an extension in hand, there is no denying that he is still one of the most powerful players in league history. And if he truly wanted a trade or a chance to play for a new team, it’s unlikely the Lakers would deny him that opportunity given their history of star treatment.
Paul knows this, and that’s certainly part of why he wants James to sit back and enjoy the summer to the best of his ability. The outside noise is always going to be loud when it comes to the Lakers star.
LeBron James was notified about Lakers sale
Initially, it was reported that the Lakers did not tell LeBron James that Jeanie Buss would be selling the franchise to Mark Walter. However, a later correction stated that LeBron was notified, but simply chose not to make a public statement on the subject.
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