Report: LeBron James and Klutch Sports have not discussed whether or not he’d take Lakers extension yet

Discussions of a potential extension between LeBron James, Klutch Sports and the Lakers will take place at some point this offseason, but they haven’t even reportedly taken place between the former two yet.

The Lakers are going to have to deal with many, many things at the same time in the coming months. The most obvious is the coaching search over the coming weeks to find the new lead man for the franchise, but at the same time, discussions on a potential Russell Westbrook trade will be taking place, as well as scouting of potential free agents to chase in the summer.

In the background of all of it will be LeBron James’ own potential extension. Partly because he can’t negotiate an extension until August, and partly because so much of what the Lakers will do this summer will be based on James’ future with the franchise.

While the two sides technically can’t discuss an extension yet, Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka spoke during his exit interview that he had the sense that LeBron wanted to make Los Angeles his “long-term home.” James spoke about being committed to bringing another title to the franchise on the same day.

But the latest report from Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report is that an extension hasn’t been discussed. Not only between LeBron’s reps at Klutch Sports and the Lakers, but between LeBron and Klutch themselves, as Pincus writes that “sources at Klutch Sports insist those internal discussions on James’ future haven’t taken place yet.”

It makes sense that LeBron and Klutch would take a wait-and-see approach on an extension. Given how the timelines will work, LeBron can effectively sit and watch what the Lakers do during the offseason as they reshape the roster and then make a decision on what level of faith he has in the front office.

As we’ve seen in the past during his second stop in Cleveland, LeBron very well could start signing a series of two-year deals with player options for the second season that he would regularly opt out of in order to keep the pressure on the front office to keep the Lakers contenders or risk losing him, as it did with Cleveland’s front office at the time.

And while James may have been willing to sign an extension based on faith in the front office two years ago, a lot has changed since then, and the front office has seemingly lost a lot of that goodwill. In that sense, they deserve to have some constant pressure on them.

There also remains the possibility that he doesn’t sign an extension at all, which would ratchet up the pressure even more this offseason. The Lakers would either have to fix things to James’ liking, or risk losing the biggest star in the NBA. All of it will certainly create a lot of pressure for a front office that is going to have to get a lot of things right in the coming months. Only time will tell if they’ll be able to do so.

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