LeBron James’ decision to accept his $52.6 million player option has restricted the Los Angeles Lakers in their ability to build on their roster. NBA analyst Skip Bayless has already denounced James’ decision, but former Washington Wizards star Gilbert Arenas took a different approach. To nobody’s surprise, Bayless spun back around to stand his ground on his original claim.
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Arenas typically has a unique perspective in comparison to other figures in the sports media space due to his experience as a former player. Many people expect players to make decisions that help the team and the owners financially. Arenas insists it should be the other way around.
“The biggest conversation is, you want a millionaire [player] to sacrifice for a ring, but the billionaire [team owner] won’t. Because, at the end of the day, they’re fighting over the same money. [The owner] don’t want to pay the luxury tax. So he wants [the player] to sacrifice because he wants all his profit,” said Arenas on Gil’s Arena.
“Give me all my money, and if y’all want to win a championship, go to the luxury tax,” Arenas added.
The NBA world recently saw how quickly teams will do what’s best for them at the expense of the player. Damian Lillard holds a reputation as one of the most loyal players in the entire league. That didn’t prevent the Milwaukee Bucks from waiving him only a couple of months after he tore his Achilles.
Arenas doesn’t think players — including LeBron — should be faulted for trying to maximize their fortunes. Bayless found no common ground with Arenas’ statement but pointed to LeBron’s financial situation to reinforce his own stance.
“I’m always going to be on the millionaire’s side versus the billionaire’s side. I didn’t grow up with money,” Bayless said on The Skip Bayless Show. “But LeBron is a billionaire, just for the record.”
James has an estimated net worth of $1.2 billion. That makes him wealthier than four NBA owners, Clay Bennet (Oklahoma City Thunder), Vivek Ranadive (Sacramento Kings), Gabe Plotkin (Charlotte Hornets) and Peter J. Holt (San Antonio Spurs).
Potentially sacrificing $10 million wouldn’t necessarily hurt James. Bayless used that point to try to guilt James, saying, “Come on, LeBron, in year 23, at age 41, you couldn’t take $20-30 million to dramatically enhance the Lakers’ chances of winning now? Winning for you?”
Although LeBron chose to prioritize himself this time around, he has taken a pay cut in the past. When he first signed with the Miami Heat, he willingly accepted less money so the team could retain Udonis Haslem. It seems in this instance, he didn’t deem it necessary to make the sacrifice.
Los Angeles hasn’t been as active as many would’ve liked during this offseason, but they were able to acquire Deandre Ayton. Now that they finally have a competent big man, they will look a bit different in the 2025-26 season, but only time will tell how it all plays out.
