Spurs Factor Into LeBron James' Decision to Sign Lakers Deal?

The San Antonio Spurs were not viewed as an appealing NBA free agency destination for LeBron James next summer.

LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers recently reached an agreement on a two-year, $97.1 million contract extension. It took some time for the deal to be reached and signed following him becoming eligible to negotiate.

For James, it's clear he likes living in Los Angeles. He likely will play for the Lakers all the way through the end of his NBA career barring the possibility of signing wherever he needs to play with his son, Bronny, in the future. 

However, one of the reasons that did contribute to James choosing to re-sign with the Lakers was his lack of interest in his options had he played out the final year of his current contract.

Long story short, James looked at which teams were out there with a lot of cap space next summer and decided, "no thanks."

According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, James was simply not interested in his options when it came to potential teams to sign with next summer.

“For LeBron James, he looked at the free agency landscape next summer, who might have cap space, and there was nothing that interested him enough, I’m told, to keep that option open and go into the season on an expiring contract.”

The San Antonio Spurs are among the teams set to hold massive salary cap space next offseason. After moving on from Dejounte Murray to undergo a long-term rebuild, it shouldn't be a surprise that James wasn't intrigued. 

The Spurs' rebuild will likely require patience, but they do have some solid pieces to kick things off. Adding Jeremy Sochan with the No. 9 overall pick in this year's NBA Draft coupled with Devin Vassell, Josh Primo, Malaki Branham, and Blake Wesley among others offers young talent to develop.

It will be some time before the Spurs are an appealing landing spot for a superstar to consider in free agency, but that's to be expected. Where they will need to find their future star power will be through the draft. 

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You can follow Grant Afseth on Twitter at @GrantAfseth.

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