LeBron signs three-year contract worth $100m with Cavaliers
LeBron James delivered Cleveland their championship and now he is being paid handsomely to defend it for the Cavaliers.
The Cavaliers and their star have agreed to terms on a new three-year contract that will make the NBA’s biggest star its highest-paid player with a $31million salary next season.
The deal is worth a total of $100m, with James’ salary increasing to $33m in 2017-18 – the richest single-season salary in NBA history.
“I just want to let you all know I’m re-signing with the Cleveland Cavaliers, my hometown team,” James announced in a video on Uninterrupted, his online multimedia platform.
BREAKING NEWS: @KingJames announces on UNINTERRUPTED he will sign a new deal with the @Cavs.https://t.co/CXZ5qFK5o6
— UNINTERRUPTED (@uninterrupted) August 11, 2016
It is the first time in James’ 13-year career he will be the highest paid player in the NBA.
James, 31, became a free agent this offseason, but his stay in Cleveland was never really in doubt.
Since returning home from Miami, the Akron, Ohio, native negotiated opt-out clauses before the second year of his last two contracts with the Cavs in order to capitalise on the NBA’s ever-changing financial landscape.
He exercised his player opt-out this offseason on a contract that would have paid him $21.6m next year before agreeing to the record deal.
James joins Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant as the only players in NBA history to make more than $30m in a season.
