LeBron James Agrees To Two-Year, $85 Million Extension With Lakers, Setting Him Up To Play With Bronny In 2023

LeBron James has agreed to a two-year, $85-million extension with the Lakers that will make him a free agent in 2023, just in time to play with his oldest son Bronny James, who is set to graduate Sierra Canyon (CA) High School that year.

“I think [LeBron] would love to [play with Bronny],” Danny Green, who won the NBA title with James in October and now with the Thunder, told me in October by phone.

“I don’t know if his body will hold up for another three years. I don’t think he wants to play in the NBA and not be able to play at the level that he’s playing at right now. And I think three years from now it will be tough. The way he ‘s going, I would assume most people are a shell of themselves 20 years later.

“But I’m sure he would love to play with Bronny.”

The news of the extension was first reported by The Athletic.

The extension gives James at least two more chances to win titles with Anthony Davis, who is expected to re-sign with the Lakers. The duo could repeat or three-peat and establish a mini-dynasty in L.A. The Lakers are set to open the regular season Dec. 22 against the rival Clippers.

LeBron will turn 39 in 2023 and will presumably be winding down his historic NBA career.

There has been speculation in NBA circles that King James could opt to sign with whatever team drafts his son that year (the Knicks, anyone?), enabling the father-and-son duo to play together for however long LeBron chooses to play.

LeBron has made a habit of watching Bronny, 16, play in AAU and high school settings.

Last December, he watched as Bronny scored a go-ahead layup against St. Vincent-St. Mary, Lebron’s alma mater, in Ohio.

“You want to ask me what is the greatest achievement of my life,” James said in a 2018 interview with UNINTERRUPTED. “If I’m on the same court as my son in the NBA. That would be No. 1 in my lifetime as an NBA player. I’ve thought about it because my son is about to be 14, and he might be able to get in there a little earlier,” 

In January, when the Lakers visited the Celtics, LeBron attended the prestigious Hoophall Classic in Springfield, Mass.

LeBron sat — and stood — courtside surrounded by a slew of local police offers and security personnel. But the game played before about 4,000 fans in a standing-room only gym was not without incident.

During the third quarter, a fan threw something at Bronny as he inbounded the ball. The official called security over but no one was ejected.

“It’s just disrespectful,” LeBron said that night at TD Garden. “And it was a little kid, too. I don’t know how old that little kid was. I don’t know if he learned that on his own, or he learned it at home.”

Bronny is not the player his father is — no one is — but has to deal with similar scrutiny.

“You’d be surprised by all the stuff Bronny has to go through,”  his former teammate Ziaire Williams told Yahoo Sports. “It’s not fair, but he doesn’t let it faze him at all. I’m learning how to be more like that from him, and he’s younger than me.”

If the one-and-done rule isn’t abolished in 2022 — and the current thinking is that it won’t be — Bronny James might have to do a one-and-done year in college before he could enter the NBA Draft in 2024, the year LeBron will turn 40.

Some oddsmakers believe Bronny will commit to an HBCU, with North Carolina Central having the best odds to land him. Duke, Kentucky, Kansas and North Carolina have also been also mentioned, while LeBron has said he would’ve gone to Ohio State had he attended college.

Will LeBron still be around at 40 to team up with Bronny?

Now he’s set himself up for it.