DHJ Quick Take
Growing Uncertainty in LA: While the Lakers remain a top option, insiders suggest the franchise is pivoting toward a future centered on Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves, leaving LeBron James’ status as the team’s primary focus in doubt.
High-Profile Suitors: The Warriors, Cavaliers, Knicks, Nuggets and Clippers have been linked to LeBron.
Prediction: LeBron will retire, re-sign with the Lakers or return to the Cavaliers.
Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James becomes an unrestricted free agent this offseason for the first time since 2018, and if the future Hall of Famer doesn’t retire from the NBA and doesn’t re-sign with the Lakers, insiders have linked him to the Golden State Warriors, Cleveland Cavaliers, New York Knicks, Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Clippers.
Dave McMenamin and Tim Bontemps of ESPN spoke with a dozen sources across the NBA in recent weeks about James’ future and the Lakers, Warriors, Cavaliers, Knicks, Nuggets and Clippers came up.
Lakers
James has been with the Lakers since 2018. He guided the franchise to the 2020 championship against the Miami Heat at the Walt Disney World bubble. The Purple and Gold also made the Western Conference Finals in 2023.
James’ future with the Lakers is up in the air because the franchise is now building around Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves. While Dončić and Reaves love playing with James, a January ESPN article stated, in part, that Lakers governor Jeanie Buss didn’t like that James “was considered a savior for a floundering franchise when he arrived in 2018.” ESPN also reported that Buss feels James hasn’t taken enough accountability for the Russell Westbrook trade being a failure.
After the ESPN article was published, James’ future with the Lakers has been a hot topic in league circles.
Warriors
James has been linked to the Warriors because he is close friends with Stephen Curry and Draymond Green. Golden State tried to acquire James from Los Angeles during the 2023-24 season.
James, 41, has publicly said in the past that he would love to play with Curry and Green.
James and Curry were teammates on Team USA during the 2024 Paris Olympics. The NBA legends helped Team USA win the gold medal.
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr was the coach of Team USA in 2024 and Green has the same agent as James, Rich Paul of Klutch Sports Group. As you can see, James has many connections in Golden State.
However, the odds of James playing for the team that beat him in the NBA Finals three times are pretty low.
Cavaliers
James is widely expected to leave the Lakers for the Cavaliers if he doesn’t retire from the NBA this offseason, sources told Dallas Hoops Journal.
The NBA’s all-time leader in points and assists, James has played for the Cavaliers twice. He’s the best player in franchise history and will get his No. 23 jersey retired by the organization one day.
A “farewell tour” with Cleveland would certainly be a storybook ending for James, who was born and raised in Akron, Ohio.
James guided the Cavaliers to their only NBA championship in 2016 against the 73-9 Warriors. The 2015-16 Cleveland team is the only squad in NBA history to erase a 3-1 series deficit in the NBA Finals.
Knicks
Knicks president Leon Rose used to be James’ agent. New York head coach Mike Brown also coached James in Cleveland.
James almost signed with the Knicks in 2010 before joining the Heat. Madison Square Garden is one of James’ favorite buildings to play in.
It would be fascinating to see James wear a Knicks jersey and play alongside All-Star guard Jalen Brunson.
Nuggets
Denver pursued James in 2018 when the NBA icon left Cleveland as a free agent. Nuggets president Josh Kroenke is friends with James, who also has a rapport with Denver stars Nikola Jokić and Jamal Murray and assistant Jared Dudley.
“Who is the only guy on [James’] level from a basketball IQ standpoint in the league?” a West executive told ESPN. “Go there and team up with that guy.”
It would be strange to see James play for the Nuggets since Denver swept LAL in the 2023 Western Conference Finals and beat James and Co. in the first round of the 2024 playoffs, but a “Big 3” of James, Murray and Jokić would be lethal.
Clippers
Per ESPN, “several team personnel around the league speculated that if the NBA’s investigation into Kawhi Leonard‘s Aspiration endorsement deal ended up with Leonard’s contract being voided as a punishment, James could sign with the Clippers for more than the Lakers would offer him.”
The Clippers are coached by Tyronn Lue, with whom James won a championship in 2016 with the Cavaliers. James advocated for the Lakers to hire Lue in 2019, but LAL signed Frank Vogel.
Even though James loves Lue, don’t expect The King to play for the Clippers.
“LeBron will never play for the Clippers,” a source told Dallas Hoops Journal last summer. “He has said that many times to people in his circle.”
DHJ Prediction for LeBron James
If James doesn’t retire from the NBA this summer, he will either re-sign with the Lakers or return to the Cavaliers.