LeBron James' New Lakers Contract Gets Last-Minute Twist

Earlier this week, LeBron James agreed to a massive extension with the Los Angeles Lakers that will keep him in Hollywood for potentially the remainder of his career. This initially came out to a max deal of $104 million for two years.

According to NBA insider Shams Charania, however, the deal has now taken a last-minute twist after LeBron agreed to give up close to $3 million in order to help the Lakers.

Charania reported on X (formerly known as Twitter) that James' new contract will no longer be a max deal:

"LeBron James' final two-year deal total , per sources: $101.355 million – almost $3M less than his $104M max, placing Lakers below second apron," Shams reported.

As Shams reported above, the significance of this $3-million pay cut is that it places the Lakers just below the second apron. Simply put, this gives LA more financial flexibility in terms of adding more players to their roster.

This could suggest that the Lakers would remain active in free agency and/or trade market in the coming days and weeks.

Related: Lakers Fans In Distress After Losing Out On Another Big Free Agent Target