On Monday evening, the Los Angeles Lakers' 2025-26 season came to an end with a narrow loss at the hands of the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 4. While the Lakers put forth by far their strongest effort in the series in this one, that still wasn't enough to avoid a sweep against the defending champs.
Now, the Lakers are officially on to a consequential offseason, in which LeBron James will have the opportunity to depart the team in free agency if he so chooses.
Recently, noted James hater and sports media personality Skip Bayless took to social media with a prediction for how James' newest free agency saga will play out.
“I'm assuming 1) LeBron will play at least one more season, and that 2) it will be elsewhere,” noted Bayless on X, formerly Twitter.
He also floated a hypothetical situation in which James would once again suit up for the purple and gold.
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“I assume LeBron will offer to take a huge discount to stay in LA and play next season for the Lakers. And I would guess Luka will quietly say NOT AGAIN,” he opined.
James and Doncic have shown solid chemistry on the court together in their relatively brief time as teammates. James' massive salary this year was a big talking point from Lakers skeptics, who thought that it prevented Rob Pelinka and company from building a sensible roster tailored to Doncic's strengths and weaknesses.
Next year, if James were back on a discount, that would certainly make things easier from a team-building perspective, but clearly, Bayless is of the opinion that Doncic wants the Lakers to fully become his own team, something that could only happen after James is out of the picture.
Clearly, James and the Lakers will have some big decisions to make this summer.
On Monday evening, the Los Angeles Lakers' 2025-26 season came to an end with a narrow loss at the hands of the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 4. While the Lakers put forth by far their strongest effort in the series in this one, that still wasn't enough to avoid a sweep against the defending champs.