LeBron James recently gave an exclusive interview to TIME, shedding some light on what he thinks his future in the NBA will look like. At the moment, the expectation is that James will play for at least one more season.
Whether that's with the [Los Angeles Lakers](https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nba/los-angeles-lakers) or another team is the question that has to be answered. Some are in a weird spot when it comes to bringing James back, probably wanting the 41-year-old, who will turn 42 during the middle of next season, to be on the roster.
He isn't what he once was, but he still sells tickets, and he's an above-average player. At the end of the day, that's what teams are looking for.
Now, the Lakers could be looking for him back on the roster, but hopefully taking a pay cut. According to TIME, when James was asked about that, he didn't have an answer.
“James appears in no rush to decide on next season. … But when asked if he’d take a discount to come back to L.A. and give the team more financial flexibility, James declined to comment,” Sean Gregory of TIME [wrote](https://time.com/collection/time100-sports/2026/lebron-james/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=editorial&utm_content=090626).
James isn't worth a max-type slot at this point in his career, though the Lakers might be somewhat forced to give it to him if they want to keep him around.
The question for them is whether they think paying that price is worth it, or allowing him to walk for nothing and trying to get better in the aggregate.
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