The Lakers didn’t land any of those three, but James still took roughly $2.7 million less than the two-year, $104 million max extension that he was eligible for. That helped the

Ideally, Los Angeles will be able to add a center similar to Mark Williams, whom they acquired at the trade deadline last year before having to back out of the deal due to an issue with his physical. After that, the Lakers should look to bring in a lockdown perimeter defender.

In 27 regular-season games with the Lakers, the younger James averaged 2.3 points, 0.8 assists and 0.7 rebounds in 6.7 minutes a game while shooting 31.3% from the field and 28.1% from 3-point range.