LeBron James intends to sign a two-year, $104 million max deal with the Los Angeles Lakers. James deal also reportedly includes a player option and a no-trade clause.
Before NBA free agency opened, James indicated to the Lakers that he'd be willing to take less than his max salary. The idea was for Los Angeles to open up flexibility to add a player via using the full Non-Taxpayer MLE or through a sign-and-trade. Either option would have triggered a hard-cap at the first apron, so James was willing to take less to help his team come in under the apron.
Those options are now off the table. With James in the fold for the max, the Lakers are now over the first apron, and will be over the second apron once they sign Bronny James to a standard NBA contract.
The Lakers can still make trades, but will face second apron restrictions where they can't aggregate players together in deals. They also won't be able to take back more salary than they send out in a trade.
