How much of a paycut should the Lakers try to get LeBron James to take this offseason?

Last offseason, LeBron James was reportedly feeling magnanimous.

After LeBron declined his $51.4 million player option ahead of free agency, Klutch Sports superagent Rich Paul told ESPN’s Dave McMenamin that he ” would be willing to work with the Lakers ” on signing a below-max deal “to open up the full $12.9 million mid-level exception to sign an ‘impact player’” such as James Harden, Klay Thompson or Jonas Valančiūnas.

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 Lakers stay $45,000 below the second apron, which wound up being a franchise-altering decision.

Had he not done so, the Lakers wouldn’t have been able to acquire Luka Dončić ahead of this