LeBron James Net Worth: The Financial Impact of The King signing with the Lakers

#3 Contract has a player option after the 3rd year

LeBron James Banner Removed From Outside Cleveland Cavaliers' Quicken Loans Arena

In his second stint with the Cavs, LeBron never signed a deal that had kept him with the team for more than two guaranteed years. His longest deal was a 3-year $100 million offer that he signed in 2016, to make maximum use of the rising cap.

Over the four years (2014-18), he signed three contracts. He came back on the guarantee from owner Dan Gilbert that money would not be an issue while setting up a championship contending team. Despite getting that guarantee, he held his short-term contract as leverage.

His first contract, in 2014, was a 2-year deal worth $42.2 million with a player option for the second year. He opted out of that (worth $21.6 million) and signed another contract in the summer of 2015 - 2-years and 47 million with another player option at the end of the first year. Once again, in the summer of 2016, he opted out of $24 million and then signed a 3-year deal worth $100 million with an opt-out clause at the end of the second year (which he exercised to sign with the Lakers).