The Los Angeles Lakers saw their seven-game win streak come to an end on Monday night at Crypto.com Arena, with the frisky Phoenix Suns squad led by Dillon Brooks getting the best of LeBron James and company in convincing fashion.
Even though the Lakers’ impressive win streak comes to an end, the team has shown a lot of promise early in the 2025-26 NBA season, which bodes well for a shot at title contention. One hot topic of discussion about the storied franchise ever since the blockbuster trade to acquire Luka Dončić has been whether he and James can coexist or if the four-time NBA champion even wants to coexist in Los Angeles.
Former NBA Star Makes Bold Claim About James’ Relationship With Dončić
At one point, former NBA star Deron Williams played alongside James on the Cleveland Cavaliers. This short-lived partnership lasted only 24 games, but he also shared the floor with the future Hall of Famer on Team USA.
Although the Dončić-James Lakers haven’t even lasted a full season yet, Williams seems to think his old teammate isn’t all that fond of playing with the Slovenian superstar or playing for the Lakers anymore, as he said on the To The Baha podcast, via The Truth X account.
Deron Williams says it looks like Lebron don’t really fw Luka and doesn’t want to be on the Lakers
Everybody can clearly see that Lebron is sick that the Lakers chose Luka over him except his delusional fans 😭😭
(Via To The Baha podcast) pic.twitter.com/pn6R0H2N9L
— TheTruth (@Thetruth8240) December 2, 2025
“It look like he don’t really (expletive) with Luka,” Williams said of James. “Not shaking hands. I’ve seen like seven clips. He didn’t help him up when he fell. Little (expletive) like that.”
There has been a lot of speculation about the new superstar pairing in Los Angeles and what the future holds for James, considering he has not yet revealed his plans or what he wants to do beyond this season, when his contract with the Lakers expires.
All signs seem to be pointing to the Lakers moving on from James in order to solely focus on building the team around Dončić, with Austin Reaves seemingly being a crucial building block. Of course, Reaves will likely have a hefty pricetag after this season, as he’s already proven his worth as a viable star to play next to Dončić in the Lakers’ backcourt.
It’ll be interesting to see how all this pans out in Los Angeles and whether James’ future will be tied to the Lakers, elsewhere, or if retirement is on the horizon once the 2025-26 campaign comes to an end.