According to reports, the Los Angeles Lakers are very interested in signing Klay Thompson, and given Klay Thompson's current relationship with the Golden State Warriors, the Lakers have a very good chance of signing Klay Thompson.
However, the Lakers don't think they are going to win, because the likes of the Orlando Magic and the Dallas Mavericks have more salary space than the Lakers and signed Klay Thompson.
According to NBA insider Chris Haynes, LeBron James will consider taking a pay cut to renew his contract with the Lakers, helping the team get an All-Star star and helping the Lakers compete for a championship in the 2024-25 season. And LeBron James's salary cut and contract extension behavior is very likely to break up the Golden State Warriors' Splash Brothers.
"LeBron takes a pay cut to break the Splash Brothers, is the devil lol"
If the Golden State Warriors give up Klay Thompson in the 2024 offseason due to contract issues, it will cause dissatisfaction among many Warriors fans and media. Because Klay Thompson helped the Golden State Warriors reach the Finals six times and won four championships. Moreover, there are three championships among them, which they won by beating LeBron James.
They met the Cleveland Cavaliers led by LeBron James in the Finals in 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 respectively. In the end, the Golden State Warriors only lost to LeBron James in 2016.
For LeBron James, now taking a salary cut to renew the Lakers' contract to make room for the team to sign Klay Thompson is a good way to get revenge. If LeBron James doesn't take a pay cut, the Lakers can only offer him a mid-range contract with an annual salary of only $12.9 million.
According to Haines, if LeBron James' salary cut can help the Lakers get a great shooting guard like Klay Thompson, it's a good option. However, the problem is that the Lakers are not willing to pay more luxury tax to compete for a championship, and they want players to take a pay cut so that they don't have to pay more luxury tax to compete for a championship.
The Lakers' approach would obviously put them in a cycle where they couldn't compete for a championship. In recent seasons, the teams that have won the championship have been among the teams that have paid the most luxury tax. On the other hand, the Lakers, since winning the championship in the 2019-20 season, have been compressing player salary space just to avoid more luxury taxes.
LeBron James reportedly called Thompson as soon as the free agent market began. LeBron James hopes to help the team recruit Klay Thompson and improve the Lakers' outside offensive strength.