On Monday night, the Los Angeles Lakers' 2025-26 season officially came to an end with a tough home loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 4, completing a sweep. While the Lakers put up a much better fight in this one than in previous games in the series, they ultimately weren't able to make quite enough plays down the stretch.
Now, the rumor mill will inevitably begin swirling around LeBron James, who can depart the Lakers in free agency this year if he so chooses, and recently, general manager Rob Pelinka was asked about Los Angeles' outlook on James as the summer approaches.
“Of course any team, including ours, would love to have LeBron James on their roster,” said Pelinka, per David Mendez-Yapkowitz of ClutchPoints on X, formerly Twitter.
James was tasked with doing a lot of the heavy lifting this postseason in the absence of Luka Doncic, who was out with a hamstring injury, and for the most part, the four-time MVP did an admirable job of that, especially considering that he's 41 years old.
Article Continues Below
Many have pointed to James' massive contract as a potential roadblock for the Lakers building a team tailored to the strengths and weaknesses of Doncic, and at this point, it remains to be seen if James would consider returning to Los Angeles on a much smaller deal next season that would allow Pelinka and company to go out and sign free agents and make trades with more flexibility.
There is also the question of what will come of the future for Austin Reaves, who will likely be looking for a big payday this summer as he can hit free agency is he so chooses.
Pelinka and the front office will have some big decisions to make over the coming weeks and months.
On Monday night, the Los Angeles Lakers' 2025-26 season officially came to an end with a tough home loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 4, completing a sweep. While the Lakers put up a much better fight in this one than in previous games in the series, they ultimately weren't able to make quite enough plays down the stretch.