With LeBron James playing on an expiring contract, many wonder if he will finish his career in Los Angeles.
James activated his $52 million player option to return to the Los Angeles Lakers for the 2025-26 campaign. But with no deal after the next campaign, some say he could leave at the end of the season or even ask for a trade during.
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However, according to Yaron Weitzman of Bleacher Report, it won’t be easy for James to leave the Lakers because he is firmly planted in Tinseltown. Still, if he decides to leave, most agents and executives believe that the Cleveland Cavaliers are the only team he is considering.
“If he wants to do a farewell tour like Kobe did, it’s the only other team that makes sense,”said an executive. “LeBron cares about narratives. He doesn’t want to be like Michael Jordan on the Wizards.”
Jordan could not lead the Wizards to the playoffs
Michael Jordan on the Washington Wizards was still a great player — he averaged 21.2 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 5.9 assists per game in two seasons. However, he was no longer the guy who dominated the NBA with the Chicago Bulls during the 90s. Instead, he always had ice on his knees when he sat on the bench and could not lead the Wizards to the playoffs in either year.
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Meanwhile, James may have come up trying to catch Jordan’s six NBA titles. However, he has aged like fine wine.
After breaking Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s all-time scoring record in 2023, he continues to add to the new scoring mark, and last season, playing in his 22nd year, he still made the All-NBA second team.
Barring a dramatic performance drop in 2025-26, many expect James to return in 2026-27 with the possibility of his youngest son, Bryce, joining the league. The big question is where?
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Pelinka says the Lakers want LeBron to retire in L.A.
While many say the Lakers not giving James an extension this summer was the sign that this will be his last season in Los Angeles, GM Rob Pelinka told reporters during Thursday’s press conference that the organization wants James to retire as a Laker, but they want to give him the choice to do what he wants.
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“The first thing we want to do in terms of LeBron and his future is just give him absolute respect to choose his story with his family in terms of how many years he’s going to continue to play,” Pelinka said. “He’s earned that right, and he’s the best one to talk about that in terms of how many years he’d like to play…We would love if LeBron’s story would be to retire as a Laker. That would be a positive story.”
For everything Rich Paul has said this offseason, James leaving the Lakers seems like a far-fetched idea. Although he’s playing on an expiring contract, his salary is virtually untradable. If he wants a farewell tour, the Lakers will probably give him that. Cleveland does make sense, too, if it’s about narratives. But so is having a literal Hollywood ending in L.A.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Sep 26, 2025, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.