🏀 I believe that the 2025-26 season, purely speaking in a predictive voice, will not be LeBron's last. I repeat: This is something only he can really know and more of a gut-feel read from me rather than reporting, but I fall into the camp that expects him to announce to the world that a certain season will be his last before it starts. The reality is that training camps don't open leaguewide for two full months from now, so some patience must be applied to have a clearer picture, but to this point there has been no indication that James has begun thinking in one-more-year terms. Not yet anyway.

🏀 I believe that, by saying what I just said in the previous paragraph, it means that I expect him to retire in a uniform that isn't purple and gold. It's pretty clear at this juncture that the Lakers have launched the Luka Dončić Era. It certainly appears as though they are approaching the 2025-26 season as LeBron's last in Tinseltown. If James doesn't want retirement forced upon him, as one suspects, that almost certainly means he would have to find a new team next summer.

🏀 I believe that LeBron playing 25 seasons, by contrast, is a legit possibility on the board. This is again purely a gut-feel read at the minute, but I certainly won't be shocked if he plays two more seasons after this one. I've already made it clear that I think he will play at least 24. At that point why not go for a quarter-century?

🏀 I believe that forecast is the right one because James understands the dynamics of #thisleague as well as any player ever has. And I think he knows, deep down, that the threat of him leaving Lakerland next summer is no threat at all now. It was a worry for every team he played for through the first 22 seasons of his career, but the Lakers' widely presumed preferred scenario for their future is letting James' contract drop off their books after the 2025-26 season. Paul's statement upon announcing the player option decision, which is featured in full further down, essentially hints at this understanding if you read it carefully.

“I believe that LeBron James does have some genuine curiosity about playing in Dallas,” Stein wrote. “Bear in mind that he is extremely settled off the floor in Los Angeles. It has been his family’s primary home base for the past seven years and he is building a new home in Beverly Hills. To play elsewhere at this stage of his life and career could well require a landing spot that can provide a special level of comfort to take him away from all that.

“The Mavericks would seem to be uniquely suited to offer that with so many people in Dallas he already knows well, from general manager Nico Harrison and coach Jason Kidd to former teammates Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving.”

Source: https://marcstein.substack.com/p/whats-next-for-lebron-james?utm_campaign=email-post&r=5jkm20&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

44 comments

  1. Praying LeBron doesn’t retire so we get to see him on his fourth team.

    That would be awesome.

    I’m just saying, everyone wrote off Tom Brady when he was throwing a tantrum in his last year in New England.

    And then a decent amount of teams actually turned Brady down in free agency. Look how that situation turned out.

    Age discrimination is a real thing in all professional fields.

    Lebron is not nearly as declined as some people think he is. This guy put on like the Dallas mavericks could put them over the top as a championship contender.

    It’s clear people want LeBron out of the news and wanna see him put in his place in a way. Like pushed to the side now that he’s old.

    Will see how that goes..

  3. Wouldn’t surprise me if he doesn’t retire a laker now that the bussfund babies are gone. New ownership probably doesn’t care about his retirement tour as much as they did.

  6. Damn that’s rough, I suppose he retires a laker then. Unless some other team is willing to offer him a max salary for 1 year. Although I imagine LeBron wouldn’t want to go to most teams either regardless of salary.

    Bucks could be fun, make a final push with Bam and the Heat maybe?

  9. What is with all this recent talk of LeBron basically being a toxic asset? He’s still an elite player that 30/30 teams would want at whatever price his contract carries.

  10. There’s definitely a price at which the Lakers want him back.

    Whether he is willing to sign for that price is another matter.

  11. This feels out of character for the Lakers as a franchise.

    Thinking long term, wouldn’t it be better to have one of greatest players ever to retire a Laker?

  12. If you think LeBron won’t be a key piece to Luka’s first ring ur dumb as a bag of maggots

  13. He’s gonna go to the nba retirement home,! You are now a Los Angeles Clippers

  14. LeBron wants to stay in LA until 2027-2028 season, when he will retire. Immediately following his farewell season, he will get another gold medal at the LA Olympics to cap off the greatest NBA career that most of us will ever witness.

    Makes me sad just thinking about it.

  15. So basically, Bron is going to sign another 2 year contract with the Lakers.

  18. He’s gonna go to the Clippers next year for one last ride. Watch that make Chris Paul stick around for one more season too

  20. I know he’s 40, but he’s still a top 10 NBA player being shoved out of one of the most valuable teams in sports because they have a shiny new toy. and that is just nuts to me.

  21. Lebron should take a vet minimum to go back to the Cavs and bring another championship to the land

  22. I don’t understand any of this. We get rid of lebron for what??? To try to build around luka and who is that exactly? They gotta find a way to maximize this now. When you try to get too pretty it won’t work.

    Seems insane to me as lebron is still such a good player. Why push him out when there is no replacement. This is all a mess here in my opinion

  24. These seem like completely contrived “controversies”. I seriously doubt the Lakers would force LeBron out any time soon

  27. I really would love to see his last season played in Cleveland and I suspect that’s what might happen.

  28. If Lebron wants to firmly establish his status as GOAT before retiring, he needs to do one thing Jordan was never able to achieve.

    He needs to win a championship as a Wizard in his twilight years.

  29. These guys don’t know shit. Just throwing shit at the wall for clicks.

    Let’s keep it moving.

  30. Lebron retirement tour is a money printer. I’m sure the Lakers are super eager to let another team get to do that

  31. This is stupid assuming shit that hasnt been said by the actual lakers organization. I highly don’t doubt they’ll let him walk just like that. He’ll retire as a laker unless HE doesn’t want to.

  33. LeBron not retiring a Laker would only be if the “new” ownership group isn’t like Jeanie. They would never let a legendary player not retire a Laker.

  34. I see no reason why he wouldn’t take a more team friendly contract after his contract expires. It just doesn’t seem to be reasonable at this age for him to want to move his family, plus there is no chance LA wouldn’t want to keep him around for cheaper

  35. Bro these guys have to be talking out of their asses right??? All-nba 2nd team player giving you 25/8/8 on 50/37/78 is being talked about like he’s Bradley beal on a SGA extension type deal.

    I feel like LeBron at this stage is still a strong asset that you should keep especially on 1+1s am I going insane???

  36. I just feel it’s a bit disrespectful to say to a player we don’t to want to sign you anymore after said player helped lower a championship banner.

  37. Let’s all take a moment to remember that absolutely nobody in LeBron’s camp or the lakers front office has said this

  40. If LeBron took 20 mil a season for the next 2 years that is both outrageous value and a huge win for the Lakers as they look for flexibility.

  41. I’m surprised that many of the comments in this thread don’t understand why the Lakers are operating without LeBron at the forefront of their plans. Whether or not it is the correct strategy is another matter but there are certainly legitimate reasons.

    Let’s be real: during and after his prime, LeBron exercised an enormous amount of leverage on the teams he played for. Whether it was through contract terms, passive-aggressive media comments, backroom conversations, etc., he consistently maintained control and flexibility that served him very well. Yes, the teams benefitted as well; LeBron, sometimes by himself, made them Finals contenders and he brought them greatness and relevance. However, it’s obvious these were one-sided partnerships in favor of LeBron. Regardless of how much these teams committed to him, he would not fully reciprocate. He left Cleveland (twice) and Miami when he felt like the time was right.

    Now LeBron is older. He’s still great, which is made even more impressive by his age, but he is obviously not the same player that could will even mediocre teams to the highest of levels. And now the Lakers have maybe the best possible replacement for him in Luka Doncic. It completely resets their timeline and now they don’t have to bend over backwards to maximize LeBron…or keep him happy. Again, let’s keep it real: LeBron has been exerting the same pressure on this Lakers front office for years. Except now he doesn’t have the same leverage he once did and the Lakers likely don’t feel responsible to “do right by him” after going through a fairly one-sided partnership. They will do what they feel is best for the Lakers.

    In a nutshell, LeBron wants the Steph Curry treatment for his NBA golden years but the price for operating the way he has means he may not get it fully on his terms.

  44. Lol idk wtf this is cuz id be completely fine building a team around a 42 year old lebron.

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