LeBron James joins Los Angeles Lakers on a $ 153.3 million four-year contract



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LOS ANGELES – The next NBA chapter of LeBron James will take place on the west coast.

James will play for the Los Angeles Lakers with a contract of $ 153.3 million over four years. James will try to make the franchise another championship.

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The announcement was made by his agency, Klutch Sports Group, which announced the deal as $ 154 million.

Brian Windhorst of ESPN reports that the fourth year is a player option. It's the longest transaction James has signed since he signed a six-year deal with the Heat in 2010. His previous three contracts were every three years or less.

James leaves his hometown as a free agent for a second time. Four years ago, James had declared his intention to finish his career with the Cleveland Cavaliers. But be it four times MVP and fourteen times All Star who does it or not, he has certainly left his mark in his city.

James thanked his home region in an Instagram story. Say in a superimposed text a photo of the 2016 NBA Cavaliers' Victory Parade, "Thank you Northeast Ohio for an amazing 4 seasons, it will always be home."

He delivered the first championship to the city 52 years ago and did it with gusto storybook, helping the Cavaliers become the first team in the history of the NBA Finals to rank out. a deficit of 3-1 series to win everything. The team he won, the Golden State Warriors, had the best record of the regular season in the history of the league at 73-9. James leaves the franchise as a leader in almost all major statistical categories: games played, points, rebounds, pbades and interceptions. And if 2017-18 was his last act in Cleveland, what a show he put on, playing in all 82 games for the first time in his 15-year career and crowning it all with a personally dominating postseason performance as any race In the playoffs, he is James will become the first player in the history of the NBA to lead a playoff series by scoring and then changing the team the following offseason

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Brian Windhorst details how LeBron James came to his decision to leave the Cavaliers for the Lakers.

He will join the illustrious list of legends of the NBA to play for the Lakers – some of whom already welcome James into the family. NBA players around the league have also reacted.

Welcome to the family @KingJames # lakers4life #striveforgreatness @JeanieBuss @MagicJohnson and well done RP !! ! ??

– Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) July 2, 2018

I'm sure the Lakernation is looking forward The acquisition of LeBron James means that the Lakers are just a smidgen away from it. to be true pretenders. Congratulations to @MagicJohnson & @LALakersLive et al. Cross your fingers for San Antonio news

– Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (@ kaj33) July 2, 2018

NBA players around the league have also reacted on Twitter

L & # 3939; James' agent called Lakers president Magic Johnson's basketball operations minutes before he sent the tweet of the announcement, said ESPN's source Ramona Shelburne. Then James called Koby Altman as soon as he got off the phone with Johnson

Then they knocked Send.

And now the Lakers, having failed to meet Paul George before the announcement of George re-sign with Oklahoma City Thunder, has got the most coveted player of the free agency.

Johnson and GM Rob Pelina have now delivered a major piece of the plan they plotted when they joined the Lakers in February 2017, working largely to restore the franchise's glorious past and recruit superstars from the franchise. In Los Angeles – something that the franchise had struggled badly in recent years. James joins the second youngest team in the league while playing time last season. The Lakers have a young nucleus of Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma and Josh Hart.

Top 8 scorers Points A Laker
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 38 387 Yes
Karl Malone 36 928 Yes
Kobe Bryant 33 643 Yes
Michael Jordan 32 292 No
Spanish Wilt Chamberlain [19659032] 31,419 Yes
Dirk Nowitzki 31 187 No
LeBron James 31,038 Yes
Shaquille O narrator Neal 28,596 Yes

] The Lakers also agreed to a contract of 12 Millions of dollars with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope said league sources to Chris Haynes, ESPN. Los Angeles has also restricted free agent Julius Randle to understand. The team signed last Sunday the first-round pick Moritz Wagner.

Which of the young Lakers players remains to play alongside James remains to be seen. The Lakers have been trying to acquire Kawhi Leonard, who would be unhappy with the San Antonio Spurs and would rather play for the Lakers. The Spurs surely want as many prospects and badets as possible from the Lakers in exchange for the defensive player twice in the year.

A source told Shelburne that the Lakers had felt an urgency this week to find a co – player. star to play alongside LeBron – either through the free agency with George or trade for Leonard. Johnson went to one of James' homes in Los Angeles late on Saturday night and met for several hours, sources told Shelburne. However, when Johnson spoke to James and his camp on Saturday night at the opening of the free agency, he badured them that it was a long-term game for him and his decision would only be not affected by a single transaction that they could do shortly. pressure

James clarified that this last decision to modify the NBA would be made thinking of his family. James has a home in Los Angeles, where his out-of-court business interests could thrive.

Johnson and Pelinka will continue to work hard to surround James with more talent to challenge the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets in the Western Conference But Johnson landed the biggest fish that he was trying d & # 39; catch. Lakers owner Jeanie Buss said she had an unwavering faith in Johnson and Pelinka, but she also said last week that she wanted to see the Lakers, who were 35-47 last season , come back in streaks for the first time since 2012-13. Johnson had said last week that he was unable to add stars to the Lakers by the summer of next year, he would retire from his job.

That makes no sense after James' landing.

"No pressure on me," said Johnson last week when asked if he felt any pressure to add a star to this free agency. "I'm going to do my job, I've always done it … Do you know how many Finals I've spent in 19459066?" So you think I'm worried about that? I played against Larry Bird in the Final I mean, come on, I've participated in nine finals and I've participated in NCAA University Championships. "

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Mark Schwarz breaks LeBron James' path to the Lakers, where he will continue to chase the Michael Jordan GOAT title and the Dub Dynasty.

When told that it's a different job to be the leader who orchestrated the Lakers' "Showtime" dynasty, Johnson recalled who he is

"I'm Magic Johnson, I I'm still the same guy, "he says. "I'm not going to change, no pressure on me, I'm going to do my job, that's what I'm doing, I'm doing my job, I'm excited, it's fun, I'm looking forward to it." do. "

And Take Advantage

Dave McMenamin of ESPN contributed to this report.

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