LeBron James signs with Lakers, report says

Chris Iseman | NorthJersey

Show Caption Hide Caption LeBron James will not exercise $35.6M player option: Hits free agency Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James has declined to exercise his $35.6 million 2018-19 player option and will become an unrestricted free agent, according to Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com.

LeBron James really did want to make a quick decision.

NBA free agency went into overdrive Sunday night when Klutch Sports Group announced on Twitter that James had agreed to a four-year, $154 million contract with the Los Angeles Lakers.

LeBron James has agreed to 4-year, $154M deal with Lakers, Klutch Sports says. — Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 2, 2018

The Lakers had been one of James' most likely destinations all along, although the Philadelphia 76ers were another strong possibility. James' agent, Rich Paul, reportedly met with Sixers brass on Sunday in Los Angeles.

With the addition of James, Los Angeles now becomes another threat in a loaded Western Conference, along with the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets.

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And signing James wasn't the only splash the Lakers made Sunday night.

They reportedly agreed to a one-year, $12 million contract with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to keep him in Los Angeles, while also signing Lance Stephenson to a one-year, $4.5 million deal according to multiple reports.

Stephenson averaged 9.2 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.9 assists while playing all 82 games with the Pacers this past season.

ESPN later reported that Los Angeles had also agreed to a deal with center JaVale McGee, who spent the previous two seasons with the Warriors.

The signings transformed the Lakers within hours.

James, who officially opted out of his contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday, had one of the best seasons of his career this year as he averaged 27.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 9.1 assists while carrying the Cavaliers to the NBA finals.

Cleveland was swept by the Warriors.

James now leaves his hometown Cavaliers for the second time. He left Cleveland after the 2009-10 season to join Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh with the Miami Heat. They won two championships together.

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James, 33, returned to the Cavaliers in 2014 and led them to a title the following season.

James posted an Instagram story Sunday night that said, "Thank you Northeast Ohio for an incredible 4 seasons. This will always be home."

The background was a photo of the Cavaliers' championship parade in 2016.

Now James, a four-time MVP and 14-time All-Star, will try to lead the Lakers past the Warriors in the West.

His deal with Los Angeles included an opt out in the fourth year, according to Yahoo Sports.

Paul George had been considered an option to play alongside James in Los Angeles, but any chance of that happening ended Saturday when George surprisingly agreed to a four-year, $137 million contract with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The fact that George committed to the Thunder without even meeting with the Lakers led to some speculation that Los Angeles' chances of landing James might have been diminished.

That apparently was not the case.

There was also thought that the Lakers would need to acquire Kawhi Leonard from the Spurs before securing James, but that didn't happen either. As of Sunday night, Leonard was still with San Antonio.

But there is still a chance that the Spurs end up sending Leonard to the Lakers.

Los Angeles has a solid core around James, including Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, Lonzo Ball and Josh Hart.

Of course, some of those pieces would be moved in order to land Leonard.

Regardless, the Lakers, led by president Magic Johnson and general manager Rob Pelinka, improved drastically Sunday night by landing the world's best player.

James leaving the Eastern Conference puts the Boston Celtics into an even stronger position to control the conference for years to come while being challenged by the Sixers.

The Summer of LeBron ended Sunday night. But there still could be more to come.

Email: iseman@northjersey.com

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