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Buss wants James to retire with Lakers

China Daily | Updated: 2022-09-12 00:00
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The Los Angeles Lakers signed LeBron James to a two-year contract extension through the 2024-25 season, and Lakers owner Jeanie Buss made it clear why the team invested nearly $100 million in a player approaching his 38th birthday.

"With LeBron, we have a line of communication between the two of us, and he knows that he can reach me any time and vice versa," she said on The Crossover podcast. "And I think he feels appreciated. I know I appreciated that he signed an extension to stay here and continue to lead the Lakers team. He's a fantastic leader both on and off the court, and I feel like we're blessed to have him as a Laker. I want to see him retire as a Laker."

The final year of the contract aligns with the year James' oldest son, Bronny, would be eligible to enter the NBA. James has said he'd like to play long enough to have Bronny as a teammate.

James joined the Lakers on a four-year, $153.5 million deal-already extended once-in July 2018 after leading his Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers teams to eight straight NBA Finals, winning three of them.

His Lakers team won the NBA championship during the pandemic in 2020 but was eliminated by the Phoenix Suns in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs in 2021 and failed to qualify for the post-season in 2022.

Buss said on the podcast that she wants to see James in a Lakers uniform if he breaks Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's all-time NBA scoring mark. Another Lakers great, Abdul-Jabbar holds the record with 38,387 points. James has 37,062.

In 56 games in 2021-22, James had 1,695 points. Scoring at that same pace, he'd easily break Abdul-Jabbar's record this upcoming season.

Ginobili honored

Four-time NBA champion Manu Ginobili of Argentina looked back with affection on a career that spanned three continents and included Olympic gold on Saturday as he entered the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Ginobili, a creative and unpredictable guard whose celebrated "Euro-step" stymied defenders, was greeted by cheers of "Ma-nuuu, Ma-nuuu" as he spoke at Symphony Hall in Springfield, Massachusetts.

He was inducted into the 2022 Hall of Fame Class along with five-time NBA All-Star Tim Hardaway, WNBA stars Swin Cash and Lindsay Whalen, NBA coaches George Karl and Del Harris and WNBA coach Marianne Stanley.

Ginobili, 45, won four titles in 16 seasons with the San Antonio Spurs.

He told the audience that playing next to Tim Duncan and Tony Parker under the guidance of Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was what made his ascension to the Hall of Fame possible.

"For players like me, individual accomplishments are team honors," he said.

"I'm not here because I was super special, I'm here because I was part of two of the most important teams of the 2000s-with the Spurs winning four NBA championships and with my Argentina team winning gold in 2004."

Ginobili said he thought there had been a mistake when he was told he had been drafted 57th by the Spurs in 1999.

"I didn't even know where San Antonio was in the world," he said.

Once there, he found "a big, strong, supportive family," and with them won NBA titles in 2003,2005, 2007 and 2014.

Agencies

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