Lakers' LeBron James Signs Two Year, $85 Million Extension

LOS ANGELES, CA — LeBron James has agreed to a two-year, $85 million contract extension with the Los Angeles Lakers. The deal was first reported by Shams Charania, staff writer for The Athletic and Stadium.

James, who has been with the Lakers since 2018, will now remain in Los Angeles through at least the 2022-2023 season. His contract will end just as his son, Bronny James, finishes high school and could possibly enter the NBA Draft if the NBA and NBPA allow athletes to go directly to the league from high school.

Never in the history of the NBA has a father and a son played on the same team together, let alone even been in the league at the same time. However, James expressed his desire to play with Bronny during a 2018 interview with Business Insider.

"I would love to see the floor with my son," James said. "My son is in the eighth grade now, if he continues on the path that he's on right now, he could possibly be in the NBA in five or six years. That would be an unbelievable moment not only for myself but for my family, for everybody. So we'll see. Obviously taking care of the body is number one, and we'll continue to do that."

LeBron James is coming off his fourth NBA championship during a season like no other. For the first time in his career, James started at the point guard position, recording a career-high 10.2 assists to go with 25.3 points and 7.8 assists.

This offseason, the Lakers bolstered their roster with the addition of Montrezl Harrell, last year's Sixth Man of the Year. The team also added Dennis Schroeder, Wesley Matthews and Marc Gasol to replace the outgoing Dwight Howard, Danny Green and Rajon Rondo.

Assuming Anthony Davis re-signs with the team, as many experts expect him to do, Vegas Insider considers the Lakers slight favorites to repeat as NBA champions in 2021. Fan Duel gives the Lakers 3/1 odds to win the 2021 NBA Finals, with the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Clippers coming in second place at 11/2 odds.