LeBron James may still take a pay cut to give Lakers more flexibility

LeBron James is going to stay with the Los Angeles Lakers for at least a little longer. Early Wednesday morning, he agreed to a two-year deal that will pay him $104 million. The second year of the contract is a player option, and he will also have an extremely rare no-trade clause.

However, the problem with this deal is the fact that it would place the Lakers over the second apron of the NBA’s new ultra-restrictive salary cap once the deal becomes official. That would mean severe penalties, including not being able to execute a sign-and-trade and not having access to any type of mid-level exception to sign a free agent.

Thus, James’ camp seems open to trimming that new contract a bit.

Via Los Angeles Times:

“According to people with knowledge of the talks but not authorized to speak publicly, the Lakers and James’ representatives are discussing the possibility of taking money off the two-year, $104-million max contract to keep the Lakers under the ‘second apron’ for team payrolls,” wrote Dan Woike.

“Crossing that threshold, which is at $188.9 million, would severely limit the Lakers’ ability to add to their roster by placing restrictions on the kinds of trades the team makes, including adding players during the season.

“Whether it’s through James’ contract or other deal restructuring, someone familiar with the Lakers’ situation but not authorized to speak publicly said the team will end up under the second apron.”

As of this writing, the Lakers still haven’t brought in any outside players this offseason, other than draft picks Dalton Knecht and Bronny James and a couple of undrafted free agents.