So on the surface, you see LeBron James opting into his contract and 52 some odd million,

$52.6 million player option for the 25, 26 season.

You're thinking, okay, you know, LeBron James going to play another season with the Lakers

and going to be there with Luca and that'll be that.

And maybe he'll retire at the end of the year.

Maybe he'll play another one. Who knows. But then Rich Paul puts out a statement and man oh man, this says a lot.

Quote, he knows, meaning LeBron, he knows the Lakers are building for the future. He understands that,

but he values a realistic chance of winning at all.

We are very appreciative of the partnership we've had for eight years with Jeannie Boss and Rob Polenka

and consider the Lakers a critical part of his career. He also goes on and says that they will be keeping an eye, and I'm paraphrasing this part,

they'll be keeping an eye on, here we go, we understand the difficulty in winning now

while preparing for the future.

Here's the exact quote that wasn't coming up before.

We do want to evaluate what's best for LeBron at this stage

in his life and career. He wants to make every season he has left count. And the Lakers

understand that, are supportive and want what's best for him. All right, you read into this.

You read into this. We want to evaluate what's best for LeBron at this stage in his life and career. We understand the difficulty in winning now while preparing for the future. He values a realistic chance of winning. What Rich Paul is doing is building the foundation that get him out of there.

Because he ain't going to win the West.

Bingo!

The Western Conference with the way that the Lakers are now, they are not beating OKC.

They're probably not being Denver.

He's one of the greatest players we've ever seen well he he

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