"Holy overpay", "Guaranteed 1st round exit for 3 years" - Fans react after Lakers reportedly eager to extend LeBron James with max contract

A new era dawned for LeBron James' LA Lakers on Monday after JJ Redick was introduced as their 29th coach. The Lakers' front office now faces another crucial decision: the potential contract extension for superstar James.

According to the Los Angeles Times, LeBron James is likely to opt out of his $51.4 million player option for next year to become eligible to sign another contract. The deadline to opt in or opt out of the player option is Saturday.

According to ESPN's Dave McMenamin, the Lakers are "committed" to re-signing the four-time NBA champion with a maximum deal. The report says that the Lakers are determined to offer LeBron a max three-year contract, which will roughly equate to $162 million.

Social media went on an overdrive once the report came to light on Monday. Numerous hoops fans voiced their disagreement with the Lakers' reported decision to offer a max contract to James, who will be in his season 24 during the last year of the reported new deal.

Fans candidly opined that the franchise is overpaying an aging superstar.

"Holy overpay … then they’ll complain he doesn’t have help," a fan reacted.

"This doesn’t make sense to me if you are over 38 you can’t offer a multi year deal it’s literally against the rules," commented a fan on X.

Another X user said that the Lakers won't accomplish their goal of winning the championship by offering a max deal to LeBron James.

"Cool. Guaranteed 1st round exit for 3 years."

A couple of fans urged LeBron to take a leaf out his former teammate Dwyane Wade's book, which would help the Lakers build a strong roster.

"@KingJames Take the pay cut like Wade did in 2010."

"Love Bron. But no. Take a paycut, mentor teammates, & build quality depth," wrote another fan.

One fan said that the Lakers will continue to remain a mediocre team in the league if they extend LeBron James with a max contract.

"get ready for three more years of mediocity lol."

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LeBron James' role in JJ Redick's appointment as coach

LeBron James is expected to end his career in LA. Looking at the Lakers' history of dealing with superstars, the franchise is likely to keep LeBron in the building by doing everything in their power. In that case, the 39-year-old will play under a new coach in the upcoming season.

During the press conference of Monday, JJ Redick and Rob Pelinka affirmed that LeBron James was not "heavily involved" in the Lakers' coach search.

"He didn't provide any advice. LeBron and I did not talk about the Lakers job until Thursday afternoon about 30 minutes after I was offered the job. And that was very intentional on both our parts," Redick told reporters.

James shares a close relationship with Redick. The duo began an insightful podcast "Mind the Game" earlier in the year in March.

While fans and pundits speculated LeBron's role in Redick's hire as Lakers coach, the latter quashed all such talks on Monday.