Jeff Teague says LeBron should ‘shake the league up’ if Lakers don’t want him

Former NBA guard Jeff Teague suggested that Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James should “shake the league up” in the offseason if the Lakers don’t want to bring him back.

“If I’m Bron, though, if the Lakers don’t want me, you know what, let’s shake the league up,” Teague said. “I’m going somewhere wild.”

Teague then floated the Los Angeles Clippers as an option for the future Hall of Famer, something that hasn’t been discussed as often as some other hypothetical scenarios for James.

James just completed his 23rd season in the NBA, and he could decide to return for a 24th in the 2026-27 campaign.

The four-time champion is set to be an unrestricted free agent this offseason, meaning he could sign with any team. However, it doesn’t sound like he is willing to sign a deal for any old amount.

So, there may be limited options when it comes to where James could truly land, unless he’s willing to take less money. It’s also possible that the Lakers could orchestrate a sign-and-trade deal with James, but that would require multiple moving parts in the offseason.

Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka already said that the Lakers want both James and Austin Reaves back, so it’s hard to imagine Los Angeles letting the 41-year-old walk unless the two sides are super far apart in contract negotiations.

James is still a valuable player at this point in his career, and he showed that by leading the Lakers past the Houston Rockets in the first round of the playoffs with Luka Doncic (hamstring) out of the lineup and Austin Reaves (oblique) missing four of the six games in the series.

The 21-time All-NBA selection played 60 games in the 2025-26 season after missing the start of the campaign with sciatica. Even at 41 years old, James 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 during the regular season.

He was even better in the playoffs in a bigger role, averaging 23.2 points, 6.7 rebounds and 7.3 assists per contest across 10 games.

James certainly could make an impact wherever he decides to go in the offseason, but it seems Teague is intrigued by the idea of the Lakers star making a major change to the NBA with his decision, as long as the Lakers don’t want him back.

It’ll be fun to follow James’ offseason if he decides to return for a 24th season in the NBA.