With £80m deal, Lebron James becomes highest-paid player in NBA history 

Basketball superstar Lebron James has agreed a two-year contract extension worth $97.1m (more than £80.4 million) with the Los Angeles Lakers.

The new deal, which includes a player option to extend by another year, will make James the highest-paid player in NBA history, with £441 million in guaranteed earnings taking him past the Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant.

James, who has entered the final season of his present deal worth almost £38 million, turns 38 in December and is therefore limited to signing a two-year extension as he will be over 38 when the deal expires.

NBA rules prevent teams from handing out long-term deals for players who will turn 38 during their contract to prevent abuses of the competition’s unique ‘soft’ salary cap.

Barring injury, James is likely to surpass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA’s leading points scorer this winter. James and the Lakers also still hope to be in contention for another title if the four-times NBA Most Valuable Player and Anthony Davis, the talismanic power forward and centre, can return to full health after an injury-plagued 2021-22 ended without a play-off appearance for the side.

James’s new deal syncs with Davis’s most recent contract extension with the Lakers, allowing both to leave the Lakers or to negotiate new deals in 2024.

James’s recommitment to the Lakers also silences persistent talk of his possible departure. James hasn’t appeared to be going anywhere on social media or in his public appearances, and he recently praised the hiring of the new Lakers coach Darvin Ham.

James, who joined the Lakers in 2018, has missed significant portions of the season due to injury in three of his four years on the team. He was largely fit in the elongated 2019-20 season, when the Lakers won the franchise’s 17th NBA title in the pandemic-induced Florida bubble, and has been every bit the dominant player of his prime when at full strength in the ensuing two years.

Although his contract status inspired plenty of off-season chatter, James seemed unlikely to relocate after spending the past four seasons of his 19-year career with the storied Lakers. His family is settled in Los Angeles, where his eldest son, Bronny, is a 17-year-old senior and college basketball prospect playing at Sierra Canyon High School in Chatsworth.

James has said that he intends to play on the same team with Bronny when his son reaches the NBA. The younger James could be draft-eligible in the summer of 2024, although plenty of obstacles remain between him and the big time.