If all James did was win basketball games, that would be more than enough. But his price is off the court. LeBron James recently signed a two-year extension with the Lakers, even though he is 37 years old. He's still playing well, but he can add value even when he's not. Credit...Gary A. Vasquez/USA TODAY Sports, via Reuters LeBron James recently signed a two-year extension with the Lakers, even though he is 37 years old. He's still playing well, but he can add value even when he's not.
If one believes in science, historical trends, and the limits of human ability, there's a very good chance that 37-year-old LeBron James won't be playing like a superstar anytime soon. After all, the N.B.A. In the history of , very few players have been in the league at that age, as he does. Last year with the Los Angeles Lakers, in his 19th season, James averaged 30.3 points a game, the second-highest of his career and the most on the team. He was named an All-Star for the 18th time. James makes it look easy, but a short list of players who were competing at an All-Star level around James' age shows that's not the case: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, John Stockton and Michael Jordan. Chris Paul, who turned 37 in May, could be worthy of being on the list.
Still, trends would suggest that the Lakers' recent decision to sign James to a two-year, $97.1 million extension with a player option for a third year might not pay off the court. The Lakers didn't make the playoffs last season, and James played just 56 of 82 games due to injuries and rest. His contract will eat up a significant percentage of the team's salary cap space, making it difficult for the team to add other high-end players. James has defied human limits so far, but every year there's a new chance for science to win.
Yet deals like this are often not bound by the rules of basketball, finance or science. "There's also a very strong emotional component," Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said in an email. "Professional sports is unlike any other business. You're not going to get the emotional attachment to players that Mavs and N.B.A. fans have, like they do with Dirk or LeBron or a lot of other people, any other. In business. James' connection with Los Angeles and Lakers fans may help explain why the team would sign a contract extension at an age when most stars have already retired.
James' connection with Los Angeles and Lakers fans may help explain why the team would sign a contract extension at an age when most stars have already retired. Cuban employed their franchise star in Dirk Nowitzki, who spent his entire career with the Mavericks from 1998 to 2019. Nowitzki retired at age 40 and received several late-career contracts near the maximum amount. "Nobody says they have their favorite programmer at Google or the person who updated their iOS at Apple is their all-time favorite and they have their own trading card," Cuban said. "I'm not saying all owners see it that way, but I know a lot of us do."
Cuban said he was inspired by former Lakers owner Jerry Buss, who signed Magic Johnson to an unusual 25-year, $25 million contract in 1981 after just two seasons with the team. The Lakers also gave a 35-year-old Kobe Bryant a two-year extension worth $48.5 million in the months of 2013 after he tore his Achilles tendon, keeping him as the highest-paid player in the N.B.A. "When someone has given as much to an organization as Dirk has given to the Mavs, you just ask what he wants to do and want to do," Cuban said. This approach serves as a signal to other teams' stars that the Lakers are willing to keep them long-term. Bryant and Johnson, who separately led the Lakers to five championships, directly and indirectly helped recruit James to the Lakers.
"That will speak volumes in terms of attracting people to him," Hall of Fame guard and forward Julius Erving said of James' extension. Rick Burton, a sports management professor at Syracuse University, said there's also a branding advantage for the Lakers in keeping James — or stars like Johnson and Bryant — with the team. "These are the players the Lakers want you to know: 'These guys are with us. The best players in the world play for us,'" Burton said. Kobe Bryant's final season with the Lakers wasn't great, but his final game was a spectacular spectacle, filled with celebrities and a packed crowd. Kobe Bryant's final season with the Lakers wasn't great, but his final game was a spectacular spectacle, filled with celebrities and a packed crowd.
Bryant's last game on the field for the Lakersat the Lakers' arena. But even if James soon is no longer among the best in the world, his contract is likely to pay off for the Lakers in ways beyond wins: on the business side. "Having his retirement date closer on the horizon creates a sense of urgency, and a scarcity effect," Irina Pavlova, a former executive for the Nets, said in an email. She added: "I think of it the same way as if it were announced that 'Hamilton' only had four more weeks to run: All those people who have been delaying seeing it are now going to rush to do it, paying (even more ) exorbitant prices for tickets, and probably buying commemorative playbills.”
James has not said when he plans to retire, although it seems it may not be soon: He has said he wants to play with his 17-year-old son, LeBron James Jr., who is known as Bronny. And in a Sports Illustrated article this week, he hinted that he might want to play with his 15-year-old son, Bryce, too. Bryant retired after the last year of his two-year extension. The Lakers were among the worst teams in the N.B.A. Those two years, and although outsiders criticized the deal, Bryant never seemed to lose the good will of Lakers fans and staff. "This is a year that's dedicated to Kobe and his farewell," Mitch Kupchak, then the Lakers' general manager, said during Bryant's final season. Fans flocked to Bryant's games, hoping to catch a final glimpse of him and generating TV ratings and merchandise sales for the team. In his last game, the Lakers' home arena reportedly sold more than $1.2 million in merchandise, including five cashmere diamond-encrusted Bryant baseball hats for $24,008. (Bryant wore the jersey numbers 8 and 24.)
James has defied conventional wisdom, and science, that says he should not still be playing this well at his age. He averaged 30.3 points per game in 56 games last season. James has defied conventional wisdom, and science, that says he should not still be playing this well at his age. He averaged 30.3 points per game in 56 games last season. Even if James is not retiring, he is just 1,325 points behind Abdul-Jabbar for first on the N.B.A.'s career scoring list, giving the Lakers an opportunity to cash in on that chase through apparel and other such sales. James has scored at least that many points in every season except 2020-21, when he played in just 45 games due to injuries. (The season was shortened by 10 games, to 72, because of the coronavirus pandemic.)
Non-basketball factors make up "a small percentage" of decision making on contracts, said Rod Thorn, a former N.B.A. front office executive, who drafted Jordan with the Chicago Bulls. The Lakers, he said, want to be a strong basketball team because they have "a big rival on their doorstep" in the Los Angeles Clippers, who are expected to leave their shared arena by the 2024-25 season for their own venue."It's still a Laker town, but the Clippers may eclipse them as a team," Thorn said, adding: "They want to have a great team. That's how they get to where they want to go. That's how they maximize the money they can take in. That's how they maximize their brand.”
Of course, if the Lakers continue to underwhelm, as they did last season, James's contract could draw criticism much like Bryant's extension did, even though James led the Lakers to a championship in 2020. Jeanie Buss, Jerry Buss's daughter and the majority owner of the Lakers, declined to comment for this article. But James has long escaped the clutches of critics, and the Lakers have shown that, in special cases, they are willing to invest in their stars. "If we go back, it was Kobe, it was Magic, it was Kareem," Erving said. “It was Wilt. It was Jerry West. Elgin Baylor was the greatest — he was my favorite. So they've always had a guy who fans locally and globally could identify with, and LeBron is that guy for the Lakers."
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