LeBron James is not someone who easily yields control of any situation. That’s why the news of him agreeing to a two-year extension with the Lakers caught so many off guard.
Not that James wouldn’t want to remain a Laker long-term. He just won his fourth championship, has a superstar teammate to keep chasing rings with and, not for nothing, likes raising his kids here in Los Angeles.
But the James of old wielded the threat of free agency like a cudgel. His second stint in Cleveland lasted four years but consisted of him signing three short-term contracts. In L.A., James will go at least five years without becoming a free agent. He had been on course to become a free agent in one of the next two summers, depending on whether he exercised his player option for 2021-22. Instead, he will now be under team control through 2023, leaving him with little in the way of leverage as we tend to think of it.
So what are we to make of a LeBron who doesn’t…
