NBA analyst Mark Medina feels LA Lakers’ decision to give a contract extension to LeBron James is nothing but a farewell tour. Medina believes the Lakers had done the same for late Kobe Bryant when he was in the twilight of his glorious career.

The upcoming season of the NBA will be the 20th for LeBron James. The veteran was given a two-year contract extension for $97.1 million recently, which has been the talk of the town in the NBA.

Many NBA experts believe that the Lakers have a bleak chance of going all the way in the NBA. In fact, the Lakers could not even qualify for the postseason in the previous edition due to injury woes and they haven’t added any notable names during the off-season.

Mark Medina said on the Odd Couple podcast, “I always subscribe to that old adage that you never bet against LeBron James, but I think in this case, because he is entering his 20th season and because the Lakers have so many roster holes to address, I don’t think LeBron is gonna sniff another championship.”

Medina added: “I think for better or for worse, there’s gonna be some parallels to LeBron’s latest extension to what Kobe Bryant had with his last deal which felt like it was a farewell tour more than anything else.”

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the two-year, $97.1M extension, which includes a 15 percent trade kicker, makes LeBron James the highest earning player in NBA history with $532M in guaranteed money. He surpasses Brooklyn Nets, Kevin Durant.

Meanwhile, James was in stellar form in the previous season as he averaged 30.3 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 6.2 assists in 56 games in 2021-22. He was also selected to play in his eighteenth All-Star games.

James has all the experience under his belt and he will once again be determined to prove his mettle in the upcoming season.