By JAMES COHEN, SPORTS REPORTER
Published: 12:45 EST, 3 February 2026 | Updated: 12:48 EST, 3 February 2026
LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers will reportedly go their separate ways this summer following the end of the 2025-26 NBA season.
The 41-year-old has been with the franchise since 2018 but has been tipped to either retire or leave the franchise, amid a reported rift with Lakers chiefs, in the near future.
After making an emotional return to the Cleveland Cavaliers last Wednesday, the veteran star admitted to gathered media: 'I don't know what the future holds for me'.
Now, in the wake of James' bombshell comments, NBA insider Jake Fischer has claimed that the Lakers and the 41-year-old are preparing for a 'divorce' this summer.
'The Lakers are ready to move on from LeBron James and I think LeBron James is ready to move on from the Lakers as well,' Fischer said in a livestream on Monday.
'That's kind of the foregone sentiment in Los Angeles right now about what's to come this summer,' Fischer added.
LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers will reportedly go their separate ways this summer
An NBA Insider has revealed that expectations are for James to leave the franchise in June
The news comes shortly after a bombshell report claimed that LeBron's relationship with the Lakers hierarchy - and in particular Jeanie Buss - had fractured.
According to ESPN, Buss, 64, 'privately grumbled' about 'what she felt was James' outsize ego' and also the 'overt control' the 41-year-old and Klutch Sports 'exerted over the organization at times.' Klutch Sports is the agency that represents both James and Anthony Davis.
Buss reportedly considered trading James across Los Angeles to the Clippers in 2022, a year after the 'distance... widened' between owner and star player.
Back in 2021, Los Angeles traded for Russell Westbrook - a move, according to ESPN, made as part of a bid to 'appease James'. But the trade failed and Jeanie is said to have 'privately bristled' about James' 'lack of accountability' and the way he 'would shift blame onto others.'
ESPN also claimed that the Lakers' controversial decision to select Bronny James in the 2024 NBA Draft was another source of frustration for Buss.
LeBron's eldest son was taken with the 55th overall pick, allowing them to become the first father-son duo to play together in the NBA.
And it's reported that Buss believed that James 'should be grateful for such a gesture, but she felt that he wasn't.'
Later that year, LeBron negotiated a new deal with the Lakers but Buss was said to be 'resigned to the fact' that the team had little choice and that she 'almost begrudgingly accepted' that the franchise would 'take a massive PR hit by not doing so.'
The 41-year-old admitted, after making an emotional return to the Cleveland Cavaliers last week, that 'I don't know what the future holds for me'
Recent reports claimed LeBron had fallen out with Lakers governor Jeanie Buss
The roots of the tension, it seems, stretch back to James' arrival in 2018, with Buss reportedly unhappy that he was perceived to have chosen the Lakers, rather than the team working to acquire him.
The Daily Mail contacted representatives for James for comment. In the wake of the ESPN report, Buss released a statement to The Athletic. 'It’s really not right, given all the great things LeBron has done for the Lakers, that he has to be pulled into my family drama,' it read. 'To say that it wasn’t appreciated is just not true and completely unfair to him.'
James said in the days after the bombshell Buss report dropped he didn't 'care about the articles' and that the stories 'don't bother me.'
'I'm 41 years old, and I watch golf every day,' he said. 'I don't care about an article. I don't care how somebody [feels] about me.
'If you know me personally and you know what I'm about, these guys know what I'm about, and that's all [that] matters. I can care less how somebody feels about me.'
Jerry Buss served as owner of the Lakers until his death in 2013, when the franchise was passed on to his children. Jeanie has served as governor ever since and she reportedly drove the sale to Walter. The 64-year-old is expected to remain in charge for several more years.
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