{"id":609161,"date":"2026-02-18T04:27:23","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T04:27:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/609161\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T04:27:23","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T04:27:23","slug":"lakers-front-office-is-doubtful-lebron-james-will-return-cavs-speculation-heats-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/609161\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers front office is \u2018doubtful\u2019 LeBron James will return; Cavs speculation heats up"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The future of LeBron James remains as uncertain as ever as Los Angeles Lakers\u2019 governor Jeanie Buss sounds doubtful the King will be returning next season, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2026\/02\/17\/lakers-jeanie-buss-sale-mark-walter.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Alex Sherman of CNBC.<\/a> Either because of retirement or choosing to play for another team (potentially his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers?).<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201cNever say never, but you know, he certainly hasn\u2019t given us an indication,\u201d Buss said. \u201cHe\u2019s earned the right to decide how his career will go, and you know, he continues to impress.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">James, to this point, has kept his cards close to his vest. He\u2019s refused to give any hint as to where he\u2019ll be playing next season, or if he\u2019ll be playing at all. This is a can that he keeps kicking down the road. Naturally, that means the next few months are going to be a never-ending cycle of speculation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">It only makes sense that in all of this chaos, the Cleveland Cavaliers are repeatedly found at the center of it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Can anyone come up with a better ending to LeBron\u2019s historic career than returning home for one final championship run? Another title in Cleveland would be more valuable than winning anywhere else. It\u2019s the type of thing that sounds too perfect.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">But the stars are aligned. The Cavs have dug themselves out of another rebuilding process and could, hypothetically, add James back into the mix on a minimum contract. Whether or not James would agree to that is another story. The point is, it\u2019s possible.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Still, LA is not out of the picture. Sure, they\u2019ve made Luka Doncic the new cornerstone of their franchise and have largely put James on the back burner (at least, aesthetically). But the Lakers are still reportedly open to having James back next season. I\u2019d imagine all 30 NBA teams would welcome James, but you get the point.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup _1teeyfa8 ls9zuh1\">\u201cIf James wants to play a 24th season, he would be welcomed back in LA. Pelinka declared before the start of this season that he would love it if James retired a Laker, and that sentiment was meant to reflect a 2026 retirement or a 2027 retirement, if James intends to extend his career.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nba\/story\/_\/id\/47949695\/why-los-angeles-lakers-quiet-nba-trade-deadline-explosive-offseason-lebron-james-luka-doncic-giannis-antetkounmpo\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">via ESPN<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The future of LeBron James remains as uncertain as ever as Los Angeles Lakers\u2019 governor Jeanie Buss sounds&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":609162,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3772],"tags":[7,306,147,305,193,3846,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-609161","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cleveland-cavaliers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-cavaliers","10":"tag-cavs-news","11":"tag-cleveland","12":"tag-cleveland-cavaliers","13":"tag-clevelandcavaliers","14":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116089745913645829","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=609161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}