LeBron James will exercise the option on his $52.6 million contract with the LA Lakers for 2025-26. This will make him the first player in history to play 23 seasons. ESPN and The Athletic were among the first to report the news.

With this over $50 million, "The King" will now have about $580 million from on-court earnings alone.

James, a four-time League champion, including with the Lakers in 2020, averaged 24.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 8.2 assists per game last campaign. He will turn 41 in December, and his next NBA season will be his first full with Luka Doncic as a teammate, after the Slovenian came from the Dallas Mavericks during last campaign. LA was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Minnesota Timberwolves, and LeBron suffered a knee injury.

Now, however, James is ready for the team's training camp before the new season. He is the all-time scorer in NBA history and next campaign he will try to become the basketball player with the most games in the regular season. He currently has 1,562 games and is 49 behind leader Robert Parish. | BGNES