Despite the Lakers’ decision to draft star player LeBron James’ son for the coming season and his promise to stay with the team, insiders say that James is looking for the exits anyway. And the plans are big ones, indeed.
Bronny was picked in the second round of the June NBA Draft, fulfilling his father’s supposed greatest wish: to play on the same team as his son.
James has reportedly signed a $104-million, two-year extension with the Lakers now that his son is safely set to play by his side.
But reports say that two years may be it for the Lakers, and James is already planning his next jump.
NBA writer Brian Windhorst said on ESPN’s First Take that he is not just planning a jump but a big one. LeBron, Windhorst says, wants to make him and Bronny the face of an expansion team in Las Vegas, according to the Daily Mail.
“What is the next thing that he wants? What has he made clear that is after playing with his son? He wants to be the owner of the coming expansion team in Las Vegas,” Windhorst said.
“So the biggest thing other than health that we’re going to see that is going to determine when the end of LeBron’s career is is when the owners of the league set forth a timeline about when they’re going to establish that expansion team in Las Vegas,” he said.
“Now nothing is assured, and they keep putting that asterisk on everything, but I suspect once the TV rights deals get wrapped up, which should be this summer sometime, and they have that done, they have the CBA done, the TV deal done, they’ve extended Adam Silver’s contract… they’re going to bring expansion to the table, and they’re going to probably pick a year in which that’s going to be,” Windhorst said.
“It won’t be next season, so it’ll probably, at the earliest, be two years from now,” he added. “And that’s what I think LeBron will be focused on. He wants to join up with partners to become the face of the franchise in Las Vegas.”
With all the plans, it seems clear that James thinks he still has a long future in the NBA. After all, his plans for an expansion team are on hold for two years after his recent contract signing. Furthermore, Bronny signed a four-year contract with the Lakers, so that expansion dream may even be five years off.
Clearly, James has big plans to continue playing pro basketball.
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