RJ Godfrey

The Lakers enter the offseason with Luka Doncic under contract, as well as a whole lot of questions outside of the Slovenian star.

One of the key inflection points is what comes next for LeBron James. He could re-sign with the team, leave in free agency, or retire. If he does re-sign with the Lakers, how much does he command on his next contract?

Whether there is a right price to be found between the team and the 41-year-old star, who projects to be the third option offensively, is a topic of debate in the recent Los Angeles Times roundtable, with columnist Bill Plaschke believing that the two sides will be at odds in terms of what they’d want in a potential deal, though others disagree.

The panel found consensus in the desire to bring back free agent Austin Reaves and in the need to upgrade the center spot, regardless of whether or not Deandre Ayton picks up his $8.1MM player option for next season.

We have more news and notes from the Pacific Division:

• The Warriors hosted six players in pre-draft workouts on Tuesday, the team announced (via Twitter): Donovan Atwell (Texas Tech), Quadir Copeland (NC State), Josh Dix (Creighton), RJ Godfrey (Clemson), Ugonna Onyenso (Virginia), and Oziyah Sellers (St. John’s). Golden State has the 11th and 54th overall picks in the 2026 draft. Onyenso is the highest-rated player on this list, coming in at 43 on Jeremy Woo’s big board for ESPN due to his impressive shot-blocking ability.
• Stephen Curry‘s new deal with the Chinese shoe company Li-Ning is worth over $400MM over 10 years, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania (via Twitter), who notes that the Warriors‘ star had other companies making competitive offers. Charania previously reported that the deal would allow Curry to sign other athletes to his brand and expand beyond sneakers (Twitter link).
• While the Spurs and Knicks prepare to face off in the Finals, the Kings are stuck with reminders of where they’ve been and where they’re going. The year after Tyrese Haliburton led the Pacers to the Finals, the Kings now prepare to watch the coach they fired, Mike Brown, face off against the other point guard they traded, De’Aaron Fox, while they’re stuck trying to navigate the same type of dysfunction that defined the franchise for 20 years, writes Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee (subscriber link).