LeBron James isn’t ready to retire from basketball just yet. But commit another season to the Los Angeles Lakers? He isn’t sure about that, either.
The Lakers were swept 4-0 by NBA champions Oklahoma City Thunder and mercilessly dumped out of the postseason this week and, for the first time in his Lakers career, James now enters the offseason as an unrestricted free agent.
The 41-year-old, the team’s highest paid player in 2025-26 with a $52.6million salary, told reporters after Monday night’s loss that he doesn’t know what his future holds and sources close to the NBA star insist that really is the case – and that he is contemplating leaving the Lakers and chasing another title elsewhere.
‘I don’t know what the future holds for me,’ James said in the locker room after the game. ‘I left everything I could on the floor.’
But behind closed doors, James is pondering whether the Lakers will be ready to win a championship while he is still playing.
‘He is going to weigh his options, see what free agency does for the Lakers and other teams in the league,’ a source cloes to James told Daily Mail. ‘He wants to win. And the Lakers might not be built to win right now.’
LeBron James will discuss his NBA future with his family as he considers leaving the Lakers
But after the Lakers were swept by Oklahoma City Thunder, James (pictured with wife Savannah) is pondering a change
James said he would ‘recalibrate with my family and talk with them’ about his future and that doesn’t just mean listening to his wife, Savannah. His 21-year-old son Bronny is, of course, also on the Lakers roster.
One remarkable option James would consider is staying in Los Angeles but playing for the Lakers’ crosstown rivals, the Clippers.
‘They have a great draft position and to play with Kawhi Leonard and a few other pieces they might be able to add could be pretty awesome,’ the source said. ‘There are many avenues to pursue.
‘There is a way back to the Lakers. He wasn’t afforded a full healthy team with Luka (Doncic) out with injury to see what they could have done in the playoffs.’
Doncic himself said after the Thunder loss that the Lakers should be competing for a championship and that his chemistry with James and Austin Reaves was ‘unbelievable’.
Reaves, like James, is also heading into free agency now alongside multiple other big names, such as Jaxson Hayes, Luke Kennard and Rui Hachimura. The league is also braced for the Milwaukee Bucks to finally trade Giannis Antetokounmpo, too.
‘There are a lot of players, like Giannis that are going to be traded, so the look of the league will be very different no matter who wins the championship this year.
‘He is in “wait and see mode” but he will know by the end of June what he is doing.’
James told reporters after his season ended that he doesn’t know what the future holds
But there’s a chance that Monday was the last time James is seen in Lakers uniform
But the insider insisted that retirement is an option for James.
‘That’s for sure,’ the source said. ‘He isn’t retiring. He isn’t going to go out being swept.
‘He is going to play at least one or two more years. He’s an elite athlete and as much as people badger him about his age, he doesn’t feel old at all and wants to play a little longer. For who? We’ll see.’
A Lakers departure would bring the curtain down on eight seasons with the team for James – his longest stint out of the three teams he has played for in the NBA with Miami Heat and Cleveland Guardians.
His fourth and most recent NBA championship came with the Lakers in 2020. Time is running out for him to get a fifth.
