{"id":613212,"date":"2026-02-20T07:26:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T07:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/613212\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T07:26:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T07:26:14","slug":"nba-source-implies-lakers-cannot-wait-on-lebron-james-in-free-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/613212\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA source implies Lakers cannot wait on LeBron James in free agency"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> will have some interesting options this summer as far as improving their roster and trying to become championship contenders again. They can go all-in for Milwaukee Bucks<\/a> superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, or they can use the roughly $50 million in salary cap space they’re projected to have on multiple complementary players.<\/p>\n

The other big domino to fall for them is what LeBron James decides to do once his current contract expires at the end of this season. There has been a feeling that this will be his last go-around with the Lakers and that he could return to the Cleveland Cavaliers this offseason. But according to an ESPN report this week, Los Angeles would welcome him back<\/a> for next season.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

The team is rumored to be targeting<\/a> several needle-moving forwards and wings in free agency, including the Denver Nuggets<\/a>‘ Peyton Watson. One NBA source warned<\/a> that L.A. will need to make a quick decision when it comes to James once free agency opens up (h\/t Lakers Daily<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not like if they get turned down by Peyton Watson in free agency, they can fall back on LeBron,\u201d the source said. \u201cHe\u2019ll already be gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some have speculated that James could simply decide to retire after the end of this season. However, he’s still playing at a high level, even if he’s picking his spots more than he ever has.<\/p>\n

He’s averaging 22 points on 50.2% shooting from the field, 5.8 rebounds and 7.1 assists a game so far this season. In the Lakers’ last game, a 124-104 win<\/a> over the Dallas Mavericks, he became the oldest player in NBA history<\/a> to record a triple-double with 28 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: NBA source implies Lakers cannot wait on LeBron James in free agency<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Los Angeles Lakers will have some interesting options this summer as far as improving their roster and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":613213,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[7,15938,193,149,187,896,123,185,251,150,121,1146],"class_list":{"0":"post-613212","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-championship-contenders","10":"tag-cleveland-cavaliers","11":"tag-dallas-mavericks","12":"tag-denver-nuggets","13":"tag-free-agency","14":"tag-giannis-antetokounmpo","15":"tag-lebron-james","16":"tag-los-angeles","17":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","18":"tag-milwaukee-bucks","19":"tag-peyton-watson"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116101774319201353","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613212","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=613212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613212\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/613213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=613212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=613212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=613212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}