LeBron James pulled a surprise this summer with his willingness to take a pay cut, something he explained his reasoning behind recently.
Since his days in Miami, LeBron James was not someone who took less than the max on his contract. His contract, instead, has been a form of leverage for him more often than not. There was no discussion about whether he’d be taking a max deal. The only debate was whether a franchise would pony up to his other demands so that he would sign another deal.
That practice began in Cleveland and largely carried over into Los Angeles. However, this summer, LeBron pulled a big surprise. Not only did he not use his impending free agency as leverage, he was willing to work with the Lakers in a big way.
By expressing a willingness to take a pay cut, LeBron was opening up the possibility of the non-taxpayer midlevel exception, a huge asset for the Lakers. Ultimately, the team was unable to sign anyone to it, but that was not because of LeBron. Even then, LeBron took a discount in signing his nearly max deal that will keep them below the second apron.
So, what led to the change in mindset for LeBron after nearly a decade of using his contract as leverage? He talked about that in an interview with Dave McMenamin of ESPN recently.
“Because we are in a relationship, and anybody knows relationships, [knows that] it’s all about committing,” he told ESPN. “It’s also about doing things to help both sides. So, we’ve been in a working relationship going on seven years ... so that’s what it’s about.”
While winning is still a top priority for LeBron, it doesn’t appear to be the only priority, as it has been at times in his past. Previously, the threat of him leaving always felt real. In Los Angeles, that has waned.
That’s not a bad thing. He’s been in the league for two decades and counting. Priorities change. The Lakers have benefitted from the perceived priority change from winning to being with his family. Not wanting to uproot a family of five to play somewhere else for only a small handful of seasons is perfectly reasonable, and that’s to say nothing of the fact the Lakers just made a deep playoff run of their own.
LeBron wants to make things work in Los Angeles, not go somewhere else where a situation might be set up better. That’s been clear for a while but LeBron crystalized that this summer.
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