LeBron James, who is arguably one of the greatest basketball players of all time, signed back with the Los Angeles Lakers on August 17.

The deal James signed inked him a two-year, 97 million dollar contract extension and it’s a bad move for both sides to make.

This deal came as a shock to many because the majority of sports analysts believed that LeBron would take his time and wait until he signs a new deal.

When you think about this contract extension, the Lakers had no choice but to give James the money, but at this point, how far can LeBron take them?

Looking at last season, LeBron single-handedly carried the Lakers throughout the season, but the team still missed the Play-In tournament as the other two max contract players either had to sit out or played horrible.

Russell Westbrook has become awful for the Lakers because of the floor spacing and that showed even if fans don’t consider this year.

Anthony Davis, who the Lakers are also spending tons of money on, has constantly been hurt and Davis is getting paid around $40 million to sit on the bench.

The Lakers have huge cap issues, very few future first-round picks (due to trading most of them for Davis and Westbrook) and there are no takers for Westbrook.

James, on the other hand, looks a bit better signing this deal than the Lakers but he is essentially wasting another season because of the below-average team around him.

I’m confused about why James would sign this contract now but if I had to guess, the Lakers front office probably gave James a commitment to today’s team (instead of in the future).

If you’re LeBron, you might’ve signed this contract because he may feel confident that Darvin Ham, who is the new coach of the Lakers, can figure out their struggles and get them to the postseason.

The Lakers are in a tough position because they’re waiting for Westbrook’s contract to expire in 2023 and they have no capital to trade to get better.

While it’s a no-brain move for the Lakers to make this deal, it confuses me why LeBron ended up taking this deal.

James will be wasting another year being on the Lakers and that adds up since LeBron is now 37 years old.

I believe the best move for the Lakers is to look to trade LeBron since he’s the only person you could get good value for and you can build up for possible free agents like Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Klay Thompson or Kyrie Irving.

Not only you can recuperate the picks you gave for Westbrook and Davis but also get some great players in return.

There is no guarantee that LeBron will sign back with the Lakers and since going all-in mode has failed, rebuilding would be the best option for the Lakers.