**10,000 Fans Incentive Plan
This offseason, James' decision about the future will be one of the hottest things.
In an interview in February, James said that he has not yet made a decision on whether to exercise his player option for next season. According to the collective bargaining agreement, James must make a final decision by June 30 this year!
According to ESPN, if James exercises his player option this offseason, he will be eligible to sign a two-year contract with the Lakers starting Aug. 18$1.2 billion early contract extension! As a result, his total career salary will exceed $500 million! So far in his career, James has earned 4$8.2 billion in salaries. Heading into the new season, if all goes well, he will become the first player in NBA history to reach a career salary of $500 million! However, according to the current NBA collective bargaining agreement, since James is currently over 38 years old, as long as he chooses to become a free agent, then his new contract cannot exceed 3 years.
However, if you look back at James' career, you will find that most of the time, he has always preferred to sign a short-term contract to ensure that he has enough flexibility in his career. Of course, James, the first 500 million Mr. in history, is estimated to not be able to do it for too long. After all, in the current NBA, 100 million yuan contracts are flying all over the sky, 100 million contracts are nothing at all, and 2 to 300 million is a super standard. Therefore, it is foreseeable that stars such as Doncic, Jokic, and Alexander will sooner or later exceed James' total career salary. But it is undeniable that looking at James's career, the salary he received is also the top of his generation.
James' big contract, as stable as his breakout. But the Lakers' current record is not optimistic. In the last game, after the Lakers defeated the Thunder, they once again overtook the Warriors in the ranking to reach ninth in the West, and they won the same number of games as the Mavericks and Kings, with 34 games. However, in the first of five games that could decide their future fate, the Lakers lost a crucial card battle, losing 120-130 to the Kings. You know, the Lakers once led by nearly 20 points in this game, but they were eventually reversed by the Kings. After the home defeat, the Lakers simply didn't have time to grieve because the opponents behind them were tougher than the Kings.
In the next four games, they will face the Bucks, Timberwolves, Kings and Warriors, two of which are direct competitors for the Lakers in the Western Conference standings, and each game is quite crucial. The Bucks and Timberwolves are strong opponents in the East and West, so this game is a great challenge for the Lakers. The competition in the West is more fierce than in the East, and from fifth to tenth, no team dares to say that it has stabilized. If you make a slight mistake, you may be overtaken. For the Lakers, even more so. Although the play-off position is still relatively stable, it is too variable not to enter the top eight. And if the Lakers want to be ready for the next game, the performance of thick eyebrows and Russell is important.
Thick eyebrows against teams like the Timberwolves and Kings can't always play decent statistics. Russell, on the other hand, is regarded as the third core of the Lakers. Russell averaged 22 per game in January7 points and 6 assists, with a three-point shooting percentage of 459%；Since February, he has averaged 202 points 75 assists and 41 three-point shooting8%, helping the Lakers win 10 of their last 15 games. But against the Kings, Russell was as sluggish as Thick Eyebrow, with 10 points, 1 rebound and 3 assists in the game. In this game, compared to before, Russell played a little timidly, and his efficiency was naturally greatly reduced. Whether the Lakers can improve their ranking depends on whether the two can maintain stability in the future schedule.