The Los Angeles Lakers are fighting to keep their season alive against the Denver Nuggets, but there is already growing speculation about whether LeBron James will opt out of his contract or not.
NBA Insider Brian Windhorst, joining the Pat McAfee Show, believes the Lakers star will in fact opt out this offseason for several reasons:
“LeBron I do think will opt out, and I think he’s going to opt out for two reasons. One, his son is in the draft, and he’s expressed on a number of occasions and sometimes more hotly than others. ”
Windhorst then elaborates on what LeBron's thought process may be when considering opting out of his contract with the Lakers.
“Number one, you know the draft is June 27th or 28th…whatever it is, and free agency starts July 1st. So LeBron having his free agency open during the draft could be beneficial. The second reason is that LeBron does not have a no-trade clause in his contract and if he picks up an option in the deal he can’t get a no-trade clause.
At the trade deadline this year, there were conversations between the Warriors and the Lakers about him. Now I wouldn’t think that the Lakers would ever trade him, and certainly would never trade him without his consent, but why not get a no-trade clause if you could get it, and you can't get it without opting out.”
So Windhorst sees the no-trade clause and being able to leverage his son in the draft as the two main reasons why he expects LeBron to opt out of his deal.
He did clarify that he doesn't expect James to actually leave the Lakers, however.
“Based on my conversations and my feel, I don’t think he’s going to retire. I do think he’s going to play at least one more season. He has a contract decision, he has an option in his contract and what he does will be somewhat interesting, I really don’t see him leaving, I don’t see him playing anywhere other than L.A. for a number of different reasons.”
Lakers hope to stay alive vs. Nuggets
After avoiding the sweep in Game 4 against the Denver Nuggets, James and the Lakers are back at it on Monday night for Game 5, hoping to avoid elimination and crawl back into the series.
The good news for the Lakers is that star Nuggets guard Jamal Murray is questionable for Game 5 with a calf injury.
Los Angeles has managed to score more points each successive game in this series, and Anthony Davis has essentially played Nikola Jokic evenly, but the Lakers will need big time performance from their supporting cast if they're to force the series to a Game 6.
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