Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James becomes an unrestricted free agent this offseason for the first time since 2018. The NBA’s all-time leading scorer, who is 41 years old, hasn’t decided whether he will retire this summer or continue playing next season.
The Lakers, sources told Lakers Daily, are ready to move on from the James era and build around Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves. However, if James doesn’t retire this offseason, he could still return to Los Angeles since Doncic and Reaves want him back, sources said.
Despite James, Doncic and Reaves struggling to co-exist as a “Big 3” this season, the three players maintain a strong relationship, with one source saying that Doncic “wants to make things work with James” and enjoys playing with the future Hall of Famer.
Sources said that if James chooses to continue playing, he will either re-sign with the Lakers or return to the Cleveland Cavaliers for a third stint. Cavaliers stars James Harden and Donovan Mitchell are expected to speak to James this offseason about coming back home, sources said.
Doncic and Reaves are expected to be in James’ ear as well about coming back to the Lakers, sources said, despite Los Angeles president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka and governor Jeanie Buss being ready to part ways with arguably the greatest player of all time, sources said. If Doncic and Reaves want James back, Buss and Pelinka would welcome James back since they want to appease their future franchise players, sources said.
Reaves is expected to decline his player option for next season to become an unrestricted free agent this offseason, but the Lakers — barring a huge turn of events — will re-sign the popular undrafted guard. Los Angeles is also going to pursue a trade for Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, sources said.
James joined the Lakers in 2018 and guided the franchise to the 2020 championship against the Miami Heat at the Walt Disney World bubble. Los Angeles also reached the conference finals in 2023, a series the Purple and Gold lost to the Denver Nuggets in four games.
James’ co-star for the 2020 title, Anthony Davis, was traded by the Lakers to the Dallas Mavericks last season for Doncic, who as of this writing, is 46-28 with Los Angeles.
