What Is Lebron James’ NBA Contract?

Lebron James is one of the highest paid athletes in the world. His NBA contract with the Los Angeles Lakers is worth over $100 million.

LeBron James’ Contract with the Los Angeles Lakers

LeBron James signed a four-year, $154 million contract with the Los Angeles Lakers on July 9, 2018. The contract includes a $35.65 million signing bonus, and annual salaries of $37.43 million, $39.21 million, $41 million, and $44 million. James’ agent, Rich Paul of Klutch Sports Group, negotiated the contract with Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka.

Length of the contract

LeBron James’ new contract with the Los Angeles Lakers is a four-year deal worth $154 million, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

The contract includes a player option for the 2021-22 season, sources told ESPN.

James signed his previous contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016, which was a two-year, $47 million deal that included a player option for the 2017-18 season. He opted out of that contract last summer to become a free agent.

Salary

LeBron James signed a four-year, $153.3 million contract with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2018. The deal includes a player option for the 2021-22 season.

In 2018-19, James will earn a base salary of $35.6 million, while carrying a cap hit of $37.4 million and a dead cap value of $153.3 million.

James’ 2019-20 salary will jump to $37.4 million, with a cap hit of $39.2 million and dead cap value of $151.5 million. He has a player option worth $41 million for the 2020-21 season, which would give him a cap hit of $41 million and dead cap value of $149.7 million if he exercised it.

Over the course of the contract, James will be paid approximately $153 million in salaries and earned approximately $167 million in total if he exercises his player option for the 2020-21 season.

Signing bonus

LeBron James signed a four-year, $154 million contract with the Los Angeles Lakers on July 1, 2018. The deal includes a $35.65 million signing bonus, which James will receive in two installments of $17.825 million each. The first installment will be paid on September 1, 2018, and the second on January 15, 2019.

LeBron James’ Contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers

On July 30, 2018, LeBron James signed a four-year, $154 million contract with the Los Angeles Lakers. The contract includes a player option for the final year. James will make $38.5 million in 2018-19, $41 million in 2019-20, $44 million in 2020-21, and $47 million in 2021-22. If James opts out of the final year of his contract, he will become an unrestricted free agent.

Length of the contract

LeBron James’ current contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers is a four-year deal worth $153.3 million, which he signed in 2016. The deal includes a player option for the 2020-21 season, which means James can become a free agent again in 2021 if he so chooses.

In his first year under the contract, James will earn a base salary of $33.285 million, with annual raises of 8% taking his salary up to $41 million in 2020-21. In addition to his base salary, James will also receive annual bonuses of $1 million for each year he remains on the Cavs roster, as well as a trade bonus of $2.5 million if he is traded during the life of the contract.

Assuming James does not opt out of his contract after the 2019-20 season, he will have earned a total of $153.3 million over four years – an average of $38.3 million per year. However, if James does choose to opt out and become a free agent again in 2021, he will have made even more money thanks to the NBA’s new television deal with ESPN and Turner Sports, which is set to begin that season. Under the new deal, the salary cap is expected to rise significantly, meaning James could sign an even bigger contract if he decides to stay with the Cavs or go elsewhere in free agency.

Salary

In July 2018, LeBron James signed a four-year, $154 million contract with the Los Angeles Lakers. The contract includes a player option for the fourth year.

Under the NBA’s current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), the maximum salary a player can earn is 35% of the salary cap. For the 2018-19 season, the salary cap is $101.8 million, so LeBron’s maximum salary would have been $35.6 million. However, because LeBron is a 10-year veteran, he is eligible to sign a “super-max” contract that could have been worth up to $205 million over five years with the Cavaliers.

To be eligible for a super-max contract, a player must meet one of the following criteria:

1) Be named MVP in any of the previous three seasons;
2) Be named All-NBA in any of the previous three seasons;
3) Be named Defensive Player of the Year in any of the previous three seasons;
4) Win an NBA championship while also being named Finals MVP in any of the previous three seasons.

LeBron met two of those criteria (All-NBA and Finals MVP), so he was eligible for a super-max deal from the Cavaliers. However, it’s important to note that even though he was eligible for a five-year, $205 million contract from Cleveland, that doesn’t mean he would have necessarily been offered that much money by the team. In order to give themselves some flexibility under the salary cap, teams will often structure contracts so that players are paid less in early years and more in later years.

Signing bonus

LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers contract is a four-year, $154 million deal that he signed in 2016. The contract includes a $23 million signing bonus, and James will make $33 million in the first year of the deal. The contract also includes a player option for the fourth year of the deal, which would allow James to become a free agent in 2020.

LeBron James’ Contract with the Miami Heat

In July 2010, LeBron James signed a six-year contract with the Miami Heat for $110 million. The contract included a player option for the sixth year, which James exercised in June 2014. The following season, James signed a two-year, $48 million contract extension with the Heat. In 2016, he became a free agent and signed a three-year, $100 million contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Length of the contract

LeBron James’ contract with the Miami Heat is for six years and is worth $109,837,500. Of that amount, $17,545,000 is guaranteed. James will make $14,511,500 in the first year of his contract, which runs through the 2015-16 season. He will then make $15,644,000 in 2016-17, $16,777,000 in 2017-18, $17,910,000 in 2018-19, and $22,370,500 in 2019-20.

Salary

The structure of James’ contract is similar to the previous contract he signed with the Heat in 2010. He will be paid $17.545 million in 2014-15, $22.195 million in 2015-16, $24.595 million in 2016-17, and $33.285 million in 2017-18. The final year of the deal, 2018-19, is a player option worth $35.685 million.

Signing bonus

LeBron James signed a contract with the Miami Heat in 2010. The contract was for six years and was worth $110 million. James received a signing bonus of $14 million when he signed the contract.