LeBron James' Contract Decision Proves Lakers Must Upgrade Roster amid NBA Rumors | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

The Los Angeles Lakers needed a hair under two months to complete a coaching search that started with Darvin Ham's dismissal and ended with JJ Redick's hire.

Now the real work from their 2024 NBA offseason is about to get started.

As important as it was to choose a skipper, the make-or-break point of this summer hasn't arrived yet—but it will soon.

Just one week remains before LeBron James must make a decision on his $51.4 million player option, per Spotrac, although it doesn't sound like he'll need that long. Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times reported James "is expected to opt out of his current contract."

While "the sense is he'll re-sign with the Lakers," per Woike, that's not a definite. At least, it's not worded as such and shouldn't be treated as such.

L.A. can't take James' return for granted. Maybe he isn't interested in heading elsewhere. Maybe he's fully comfortable in his Hollywood home, where he has relocated his family and where he lines up alongside his handpicked sidekick, Anthony Davis.

Then again, maybe the 39-year-old is looking at this roster and wondering whether it can compete for the crown before he walks away.

Remember, that ghost from Chicago remains a ring up on James, who captured a championship with the Lakers in 2020 but has only trekked past the postseason's first round once since. And, in case you don't recall, that lone journey came on the heels of an underwhelming 39-loss regular season, during which this team showed little (if any) signs of being capable of the conference finals trip it wound up booking.

Yes, the Lakers always get at least an honorable mention in championship-contender talks, but that's partly because all media members are contractually obligated to do so. (Please sense the sarcasm there.) It's also because it's hard to put anything past a superstar pairing of this quality.

And yet, the James-Davis tag team was healthy as ever this past season—71 games for James and a career-high 76 for Davis—and L.A. was an afterthought (at best) in the title race. The Lakers tied for 12th in winning percentage (.573) and ranked 19th in net efficiency (plus-0.6 points per 100 possessions, per NBA.com).

The supporting cast didn't deliver proper support. Ham didn't do enough to convince the front office to keep him on as coach. Nothing was special about either the 15th-ranked offense or the 17th-ranked defense. Shooting and the spacing it provides were again challenges for this club.

James witnessed all of this play out. And he knows this isn't the first time this team landed closer to the league's middle class than the mountaintop. He can't be thrilled at the idea of simply running things back with the same bunch.

The Lakers, of course, don't have to go that route. Once the draft arrives, they'll have access to three first-round picks to put in trades. That's enough to nab a difference-maker or several solid support pieces if L.A. targets depth over star power.

They have several midsized salaries attached to decent players, too, which should make them movable in trades. And if they need extra sweeteners, 2023 first-round pick Jalen Hood-Schifino might hold some interest even after a painfully quiet rookie campaign.

The Lakers need to leave next week's draft with capable contributors, whether those are prospects plucked from the talent grab or established players delivered in deals. Then, they need to keep working the trade market for upgrades, because it might take multiple moves to get this roster in position to contend.

Free agency will be tricky given their lack of wiggle room—assuming James re-signs—but the best front offices find value where others neglect it. Granted, the bargain bin only offers so much, but filling a role—shooting, distributing, defending, energizing—with a minimum contract is the best way to balance a roster with (deservedly) high-priced stars.

There are avenues to explore for this group to be built up around James. As long as the front office uses them to expand the talent base, it shouldn't have anything to worry about with his expected contract decision.

If those potential paths to new players aren't taken, though, and next season's roster bears a striking resemblance to last season's, then James might think twice about tying his twilight years to this franchise.