LeBron James may opt out of the final year of his contract with the Los Angeles Lakers and enter free agency, but he’s not giving any of L.A.’s rivals a discount.
Rich Paul — the agent for both LeBron James and his son Bronny James, the latter of whom is a member of the rapidly upcoming NBA draft on June 26-27 — spoke with Jonathan Givony of ESPN for a piece published on Wednesday, June 19. Among several comments of note that Paul made was one regarding a rumor that James is open to taking a minimum contract from the Phoenix Suns just to play professionally with his son.
“LeBron is off this idea of having to play with Bronny. If he does, he does. But if he doesn’t, he doesn’t,” Paul said. “There’s no deal made that it’s guaranteed that if the Lakers draft Bronny at [pick No.] 55, he [LeBron] will re-sign. If that was the case, I would force them to take him at 17. We don’t need leverage. The Lakers can draft Bronny and LeBron doesn’t re-sign. LeBron is also not going to Phoenix for a minimum deal. We can squash that now.”