If he is to continue his career, it is widely assumed that LeBron James will stay with the Los Angeles Lakers. The franchise represents the third team of his career, and – he once said – his last.
However, free agency is once again looming for James, who has opted to use this ability to determine his own future far more than most other players at the very top of the sport do. Free agency gives a player leverage, and – confident in both his ability to adapt his game and his tremendous durability – James keeps opting to go back to the market, or at least threaten to via a player option, and keep open both possibilities of either changing teams or retiring.
Now aged 40, James is tied for the NBA’s all-time lead in seasons played with 22, alongside Vince Carter. To take the solo lead, he will need to either opt into the $52,627,153 player option he has with the Lakers for next season, or decline it and re-sign to a fresh deal, just as he did this past offseason.
Alternatively, however, there exists one option; he could leave the Lakers altogether.
James’s Indecision Puts Lakers On Hold
Notwithstanding the fact that the Lakers will not want him to do that, this option exists until it does not.
Last year, LeBron re-signed with the Lakers two weeks after they drafted and signed his son, Bronny James, to a full NBA contract. LeBron had long maintained that one of his few remaining ambitions was to play alongside his son, and the Lakers leveraged that to bring back their superstar, who hitherto had not shut the door on retirement rumours.
LeBron has not shut them down in 2025, either. The question of his retirement will linger in the air until the day he puts pen to paper on a new deal. And because of that, the Lakers’ immediate future remains undecided.
The Relationship Has Not Always Been Good
Perhaps, though, LeBron would be ready to commit to the Lakers once again had the two had a better working relationship.
Speaking on his podcast, Buha’s Block, Jovan Buha of The Athletic reported that the Lakers and LeBron have had a terse relationship in their six years together, using the term “frosty” to describe their last couple in particular.
As we’ve reported at The Athletic multiple times — and it hasn’t just been me, Sam Amick has also reported this — the relationship has been a little frosty at times. It hasn’t always been the warmest over the past couple of years.
– Jovan Buha
Of note, though, is that Buha also feels as though any frostiness will not be an impediment to James returning to the Lakers next season. It is something he still feels will get done, in some fashion.
But I’ve said it before: I think LeBron’s going to be a Laker next year. The only question is whether he’s opting in or opting out and re-signing.
– Jovan Buha
Very rare is the working relationship that is completely harmonious, particularly in the world of professional sports. Ego, money, fame and power are at stake, and when one of the biggest-name teams and one of the biggest-name players combine their powers, there will always be some jostling, as they work to establish their dynamic. This remains true even after six years.
To both LeBron and the Lakers’ credit, any “frostiness” – or any synonym thereof – has largely passed by unspoken. There are not open reports of, say, the “bad vibes” of this season’s Denver Nuggets, and with the Lakers’ steal of a deal for Luka Doncic from the Dallas Mavericks at the trade deadline, the Lakers are on the up, even with their early postseason exit this season.
That said, there is also some tension still to resolve. As the NBA’s grandee, LeBron gets to pick and choose what he does and when he does it to a degree that no one else enjoys. And if the Lakers want him back, they must accept the push-and-pull that comes with that.
