The Los Angeles Lakers are a team in transition this season. The midyear trade acquisition of five-time All-NBA First Teamer Luka Doncic in 2024-25 totally reconfigured the club’s core, formerly focused around aging superstars Anthony Davis (who was shipped to the Dallas Mavericks in the Doncic deal) and LeBron James.
James, 41, is not the long-term solution next to the 26-year-old Doncic. 27-year-old guard Austin Reaves, however, might be. Prior to his recent calf injury, the 6-foot-5 Oklahoma product had felt like a shoo-in to make his first All-Star squad this season.
Around the trio, Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka put together a relatively unathletic-if-talented roster of vets and emerging talent over the summer. James did not come to terms with LA on an extension agreement, and will become an unrestricted free agent in 2026. His departure would open up serious cap space for Pelinka.
Of course, James could also rejoin the Lakers.
As Tim Bontemps and Brian Windhorst of ESPN observe, the fit of James alongside Doncic hasn’t yielded a championship contender just yet. Pelinka has been retrofitting his roster to accommodate Doncic, his new top priority, but the work’s clearly not finished.
Unlike James, Doncic did agree to an extension with the Lakers this past summer - a lucrative three-year, $161.4 million extension at that.
But just because Los Angeles is going to let James reach free agency this coming offseason, doesn’t mean a reunion is impossible.
NBA executives who spoke with Bontemps and Windhorst laid out three possible routes for James, should he want to play for an unprecedented 24th season in 2026-27.
He could remain with the Lakers for a number below the league maximum, a sum he’s been hovering around for most of his career. James has appeared to be reticent to do this in the past.
The four-time MVP could also opt to find an interested suitor who will pay him the money he wants next year. His advanced age (and, thus, his injury risk) and defensive issues may temper his market value, but he’s still a high-level offensive talent. Of course, James could also retire. But the league at large is skeptical he’ll take that step.
“LeBron is still averaging 20 points and shooting 50%. He can help a team win,” an NBA head coach told ESPN. “You just have to find the right situation.”
The Lakers have been solid this year with Doncic, James, Reaves and some depth. But questions about the club’s defense and that triumvirate’s fit seem well-founded.
At 21-11, Los Angeles currently occupies the Western Conference’s No. 5 seed. But the club is just one game behind the fourth-seeded Denver Nuggets for homecourt advantage.
Denver will be without three-time MVP center Nikola Jokic for at least the next four weeks with a hyperextended knee, and is also missing starters Cameron Johnson, Christian Braun and Aaron Gordon, plus Jokic’s backup Jonas Valanciunas, with long-term injuries. There’s a decent chance the Nuggets will drop a bit in the West standings, leaving an opening for the Lakers to leapfrog them.
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