On June 30, Beijing time, there is one day left before the NBA trade market opens, and the free market is already very crazy. According to NBA reporter Shams, 39-year-old Lakers star James refused to exercise his $51.4 million player option and will become a free agent, which means that James can join any team, but there is not much suspense that he will stay in Los Angeles to play. In recent days, Lakers players have made decisions that Russell will stay with the Lakers on a contract of $18.69 million, but there is a high probability that he will be traded. Wood and Hayes also exercised their player options, having struggled last season and may not even be able to find their next home if they refused.
It is reported that James will re-sign a contract with the Lakers after giving up $51.4 million. James can sign a three-year $164 million contract extension with the Lakers at most, with an annual salary of more than 50 million, which is also the last contract of Lao Zhan's career, and the Lakers are also willing to provide James with a trade veto, and he is even more treated than the Lakers star Kobe.
James is expected to re-sign with the Lakers, and his 19-year-old eldest son, Bronny, was selected by the Lakers with the 55th pick in the second round. In this case, James will not play for other teams in the future, and he will die in Los Angeles, and the old James is almost 40 years old, and he is expected to retire at the age of 43, which will also become one of the longest career stars in NBA history. Moreover, in the last year of his career, the Lakers will also hold a retirement tour for James, although he will only bring the Lakers a championship trophy, but his jersey will definitely be retired by the Lakers.
In addition to James, Westbrook also made a decision, and he exercised a 4 million player option to return to the Clippers. This is also very touching, after all, the current Wei Shao is still worth tens of millions of contracts, but in order to reduce the salary pressure on the team, he chose to execute a cheap contract and will continue to play for the Clippers next season.
Willis averaged 11.1 points, 5 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game last season, and he remains an excellent backup guard. After Wei Shao stayed, the Clippers' biggest headache was George's contract extension, the Clippers offered a three-year $149 million, while George hoped to get a bigger contract, the two sides have reached an impasse, and George may join the 76ers to join Embiid in the future.
There are several other important pieces of news in the free market. The Rockets exercised Tate's $7.6 million team option, and Love refused to exercise the $4 million player option, becoming a free agent and the Heat negotiating a new contract, which is expected to be a big mouth. The Lakers made a qualification offer to Christie, who became a restricted free agent and most likely would stay with the Lakers.