LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers Won’t Part Ways This Season
NBA legend LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers won’t part ways this season, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN.
James, who has a no-trade clause in his contract, will finish the season with the Lakers and then decide in the offseason whether he wants to retire from the NBA or continue playing.
A future Hall of Famer, James becomes an unrestricted free agent this offseason for the first time since 2018. He’s the oldest active player in the NBA at 41 years old.
“With the NBA trade deadline approaching and several teams considered to be potential future destinations for LeBron James reportedly involved in talks to acquire star-level talent, James is still expected to finish out the season with the Los Angeles Lakers, league sources told ESPN on Tuesday,” McMenamin wrote.
James joined the Lakers in the offseason of 2018. The NBA icon guided Los Angeles to the 2020 championship against the Miami Heat at the Walt Disney World bubble.
The Lakers also made the Western Conference Finals in 2023, where they lost to the Denver Nuggets in four games.
For the first time in his iconic NBA career, James is not the most important player on his team. The Lakers acquired Luka Dončić from the Dallas Mavericks last season, trading Anthony Davis and Max Christie to acquire the 26-year-old superstar.
James and Dončić have a good relationship, so there is no beef between them.
However, ESPN‘s Baxter Holmes wrote a story published on January 21 that detailed the strained relationship between James and Lakers acting governor Jeanie Buss. Two days after that story was published, James was asked if he planned to finish the season with the Lakers and he replied: “I’m good … I’m good.”
James became the leading scorer in NBA history in a Lakers uniform during the 2022-23 season. He’s a four-time MVP, four-time champion and four-time Finals MVP.
If James doesn’t retire from the NBA this offseason, it will be fascinating to see where he’s playing next season. A return to the Lakers isn’t guaranteed after the Holmes story.
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