Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James is set to be an unrestricted free agent this offseason if he decides to return for a 24th NBA season.
While Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka has already said that the team wants James back on the roster, there’s no guarantee that the four-time champion will remain with the organization. After all, the Lakers are entering a new era with Luka Doncic as the franchise cornerstone that they’re looking to build around.
Rob Pelinka says the team wants both LeBron James and Austin Reaves back 😤 pic.twitter.com/mpMlPUJUrD
— Lakers Daily (@LakersDailyCom) May 12, 2026
The Cleveland Cavaliers have been frequently linked to James amid questions about his future. While their financial situation makes a potential reunion with James a bit complex, one NBA source told Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson that the door will be open for Cleveland to sign James as long as the Lakers don’t offer the veteran max money.
“Unless the Lakers offer him max money, which it currently doesn’t look like they will, the Cavs have a chance to sign him,” the source said.
James was drafted by the Cavs back in 2003, and he’s had multiple stints with the franchise, winning an NBA title with Cleveland in 2016. The NBA’s all-time leading scorer is a native of Akron, Ohio, so it would be a storybook ending to his career if he returned to Cleveland for his final season (or seasons) in the NBA.
The Cavs may also have an appetite to add James to their roster after they were swept in the Eastern Conference Finals by the New York Knicks. Cleveland has not won a game in the Eastern Conference Finals since James left the franchise for Los Angeles, and the Cavs could look to shake up their core to compete with some of the top teams in the East next season.
James is still a winning player at this stage of his career, and he carried the Lakers to a first-round series win over the Houston Rockets with Doncic (hamstring) and Austin Reaves (oblique) injured. Reaves only played in two games in the series, which the Lakers won in six games.
During the 2025-26 regular season, James still played 60 games despite missing the start of the campaign with sciatica. Even at 41 years old, his numbers were extremely impressive.
He made yet another All-Star team and averaged 20.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 7.2 assists per game while shooting 51.5 percent from the field and 31.7 percent from 3. While James didn’t qualify to be an All-NBA selection, he certainly would have been in the conversation had he played 65 games.
In the playoffs, James was even better, averaging 23.2 points, 6.7 rebounds and 7.3 assists per contest across 10 games.
The Cavs may view James as a player that would elevate Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley, and the four-time MVP knows what it takes to make a Finals run, as he’s been to the championship series 10 times in his 23-year career.
If James returns for a 24th season, it seems like he’ll have a bunch of potential suitors as a free agent.
