On June 30, 2024, Beijing time, the NBA is currently very lively, with many teams making trades and many stars choosing to exercise their player options. And there is a lot of news on the Lakers' side, many players choose to stay with the team, and James will also re-sign his contract with the team.
It has been previously reported that Russell will exercise a $18.69 million player option to stay with the Lakers, and the Lakers have also made a qualifying offer to young player Christie, who will become a restricted free agent, and Reddish will also exercise his $2.5 million player option to return to the Lakers.
For the Lakers, the most important thing is naturally James' choice. Previously, Shams also said that James will give up the $51.4 million player option next season and will sign a new contract with the Lakers. Queens' agent, Rich Paul, revealed that James will prioritize the improvement of the team's roster and will continue to make every effort to improve the team's roster. According to ESPN's Dave McMenamin, sources told ESPN that James is willing to make financial sacrifices so that veteran players like Harden, Klay Thompson, or mature big men like Valanciunas can play alongside Davis.
So at present, the Lakers still have room to strengthen, and James' sacrifice should be able to give the team a lot of room to operate. If they can pursue Klay Thompson, maybe they really have a chance to be the favourites next season.