In the wake of a Game 5 loss to Minnesota on Wednesday night that brought the Lakers‘ season to an end, star forward LeBron James expressed uncertainty when asked about his future and how much longer he plans to continue playing, as Dave McMenamin of ESPN relays.
“I don’t know,” James said. “I don’t have an answer to that. Something I’ll sit down with my family, my wife and my support group and kind of just talk through it and see what happens. And just have a conversation with myself on how long I want to continue to play. I don’t know the answer to that right now, to be honest. So we’ll see.”
James holds a player option for 2025/26 worth approximately $52.6MM. Discussing what next season’s Lakers roster might look like, he said he’ll have “a lot to think about myself.” The four-time MVP subsequently clarified that any uncertainty he’s feeling is about how far off his retirement might be — not whether he wants to remain in Los Angeles.
“Just continuing to play, I don’t know where I’m at,” James told ESPN. “That’s what that is. Not coming back to play here. Just playing, period.”
James isn’t the only Laker facing a big contract-related decision who wasn’t ready to make any definitive statements immediately after the team’s season came to an end. Star point guard Luka Doncic, who will become fully extension-eligible on August 2, said he’s “really glad” to be in L.A. (Twitter video link via Michael Scotto of HoopsHype), but will need some time to consider his contract options.
Forward Dorian Finney-Smith, a midseason acquisition who helped stabilize the Lakers’ defense, will have to make a decision on a $15.4MM player option this offseason. Finney-Smith said he hasn’t thought about that option yet, per Jovan Buha of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Even if the Lakers work out new deals with James, Doncic, and Finney-Smith this summer, the roster has a glaring hole in the middle that will need to be addressed in the coming months.
Head coach J.J. Redick moved Finney-Smith into his starting lineup in Game 5 ahead of big man Jaxson Hayes, who was a DNP-CD, and the Lakers played most of the night without a real center. Maxi Kleber made his Lakers debut coming off foot surgery, but saw just five minutes of action.
The Timberwolves capitalized in a major way on the Lakers’ lack of frontcourt size, making 20-of-22 (90.9%) of their shots in the restricted area, according to Jack Borman of Locked on Sports Minnesota (Twitter link).
Los Angeles was also out-rebounded by a 54-37 margin. Rudy Gobert grabbed 24 rebounds on his own, and his nine offensive boards were more than the eight collected by the Lakers’ entire team. That rebounding disparity helped the Wolves attempt 11 more field goals and eight more free throws than L.A.
The Lakers reached an agreement prior to February’s trade deadline to acquire third-year center Mark Williams from Charlotte, but they ultimately opted to void that trade due to concerns about Williams’ physical. Shortly after Los Angeles was eliminated from the postseason on Wednesday night, the Hornets big man published a tweet consisting of just a single character: a smiley-face emoji.
Asked after Wednesday’s game whether playing centerless basketball so frequently caught up with the Lakers, James jokingly refused to comment (Twitter video link via HoopsHype).
“My guy A.D. said what he needed, and he was gone the following week. So I got no comment,” James said with a smile, per Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times. “With that uniform on every night, I gave everything I had. And that’s all that matters.”
I would be shocked if James passes up 52.6mil for next year. Before people say he doesn’t need the money, the dude doesn’t play for free.
You are right. He doesn’t need the money. He has other ways of making money.
He can get a 1+1 max from 29 other teams. Dont expect him to opt in expect him to opt out and sign another 1+1.
That’s exactly what LeBron will do.
Ain’t going anywhere without Bronny!
@chap
It’s his right to sign the max but wouldn’t it be a great story for him if Jeannie offered him some sort of future benefit to take maybe $20 mil this year so they could try and improve tan on his approval? In other words, allow him to decide if the player they’re bringing in is impostor enough that he would be willing to forgo a chin of his salary.
Its literally cap circumvention and against the NBA rules to offer someone future anything in return for taking a below market contract. This is why players cant be owners too while active since they would have a min deal for cap purposes.
Teams can’t bribe players.
Its up to LeBron if he wants to take less ala Dirk or Duncan but he also hasn’t spent his entire career with one franchise.
He also deserves every last penny to deal with the national media scrutiny that comes with being the best athlete of his generation.
He literally can’t. No team has that much cap room. Someone would have to trade a bunch of salary away first.
Oh and look the Nets would be happy to help you out for a price
Goodbye, and take KD with you.
I’m sure they both have two more years in them. That’s a lot of money to take with them into the sunset of their lives. Two more years is $100 million or more each.
For the megastars like LeBron and Steph, the difference between playing and not playing is roughly double their salary. Media exposure from playing drives their other income.
When a megastar retires, their value to sponsors starts to decline.
Unless you’re Blake Griffin and cry to your agent to get you some jobs five years after you retire, because you miss the big money…
Or, you just need to be smart during your career. LeBron has made $500 million during his career. His lifetime Nike contract pays him one billion. And, he wants to be a team owner. I have a feeling Curry might be content to push Ayesha’s dreams.
Both LeBron and Sreph look determined to maximize their income from now through well after their NBA careers, just like Michael and Kobe.
Even if they decided they didn’t want to pursue their current business interests, it would take years to wind it all down.
I’m sure this will be a prolonged publicity stunt that lasts most of the offseason with all of us NBA fans waiting on pins and needles to find out his decision.
It is only a publicity stunt because you will not stop talking about it. Why wait on pins and needles for it? There are plenty of other things going on. The draft, summer leagues, free agency, training camps are far more interesting.
“I” will not be on pins and needles. I predict that media outlets like ESPN and others will make it seems that way.
Guess what. They have 24 hours a day of program to fill up. How many channels do they have now?
I bet they have the graphics department already working hard on “The Decision” graphics and animations to run throughout the summer.
Media outlets write obituary pieces long before someone dies. I would bit they are already working on LeBron’s obituary segment now. Don’t want to be late to the party.
If you think he’s leaving LA and his son behind, I have a bridge to sell you. There’s no ‘decision’. He’s playing for the Lakers or for no one.
To be clear, “the decision” I’m speaking of is Retirment or Returning (to Lakers). I said nothing about leaving for another team.
To be clear RCT- Basket Hoop isn’t interested at alllll in this story
*Trademark pending on “The Decision” from said non-interested party
RCT the lakers or no one? Unless they trade him.
Terrible management. AD says we need another big. They respond by trading a big.
The team as currently constructed is barely a play-in team.
Enjoy maxing out Luka and getting the next Embiid.
Lakers clearly have a coaching problem. Redick’s unwillingness to make adjustments to his failing game plans the last 2 games in particular is what accelerated the Lakers early exit… not that they would have beaten the TWs anyway, but how do you lose a playoff game with Rudy Gobert leading the other team in scoring??!
And LBJ isn’t going anywhere.
Reddick playing the first team for the whole 2nd half of game 4 was amateurish. Let the back-ups squander the 10-point lead to begin the 4th quarter, so you can give Lebron and Luka a rest before the pivotal last minutes of the game. Ironically, the gassed starters blew the lead anyway….
Not sure there was much Reddick could do. The Lakers don’t have the front line to deal with McDaniels, Reid, Randle and Gobert. Plus Edwards and DiVincenzo play big and physical.
Not a Laker fan but watching games 4 and 5 there was a lot that stood out, one being that it was a tell that JJ had not a real trusting of his bench. When you have a bench that was only averaging less then 10 points a game, not a lot to choose from. The other is when you do play your starters a whole half especially in the second half, everyone could see this was not going to end well the last few minutes of the game. The other is when you have to have LJ have to play against the Bigs and in his 40’s plus run the floor the LJ effectiveness is going to go down the 4th qtr. With only two players being your main players and no bench to speak of, and your 3rd option not showing up in the playoffs means a early out again for the Laker just like last year.
JJ was not coaching it was leBron. For JJ to be a good coach he needs to stop listening to LeBron. With their 5 starters they lack defense. Vanderbilt is a top 10 defender in the league. He should be playing 35 minutes a game being their best defender. Playing a hurt Luka over 40 minutes made no sense. LeBron playing so many minutes for a 40 Y O player he looks tired at the end of the game. JJ needs to be the coach not LeBron’s Robin.
Luka is a one-dimensional player plain and simple. When you have Luka on your team you have to have good rim protectors on the team in what Dallas had, and the Lakers do not. Look at the comparing stats of Edward and Luka they are really one-sided favoring Edwards in this playoff round. Edwards plays both side of the court, Luka doesn’t that is a fact. Luka has to have the ball in his hands 90% of the time when he was with Dallas, and this will happen in LA. Defenses win championships, that is why the Lakers have been eliminated 4 of the last 5 years. Luka cannot play defense.
Luka can win with the Lakers but he will need some very good defensive players around him. Teams that win championships need defense more than offense. LeBron and Luka on the same team means you have 2 holes on defense. Reeves is barely average defensively. Maybe trading Reeves for a defensive center is their best option.
I agree totally, one thing you forgot though, Luka has to be in shape and for God sakes play better defense. He was drove on last night nine times, and 23 times in 5 games unheard of.
I don’t see Luka ever being a great defensive player. If he was it great shape he could be average. JJ would also need to play him less minutes.
Watch him play all he does is point at the guys getting open his teammates are supposed to magically cover. It looks more active since he is engaged but its really fake defense.
Definitely an option but with retirement not far off for LeBron, do they really want to trade away their only other offensive option? Then again, the fit with Reaves has never been perfect and he did not play well this series, in particular with neutered aggression. Some tough decisions for the Lakers to make.
They are going to need to make some tough decisions because if it is not Reeves then its draft picks or a good player. I seen 2 of those games as i winnable games for the Lakers if they used their roster correctly.
Its why the trade made no sense. They spent years putting together the right supporting cast for Luka and then just ship him out. Leaves the Mavs with a Luka team missing Luka and the Lakers with diminished resources and cap space trying to find 3 or 4 perfect players
The Lakers have Luka and the Lakers can carve out a lot of cap space in 2027, coincidentally Jokìc can become a free agent in 2027.
I dont think hardly any players that are close to max guys will make it to FA. You give them the extension with both parties understanding that they get stuff back but if you ask out they move you.
Like you dont really think Joker wants to leave DEN in the next 2 years but hasnt left yet by 27 and extended elsewhere? Also Luka/Joker seems like a terrible pairing. Luka needs a stretch 5 who is also a lob threat and rim protecter, I know right, and several athletic plus defenders that can hit an open 3 on the kick out.
Well said. Edwards is a far better player than Luka. Not even close.
arc89 , do you think LeBron wanted to play the entire time, and not come off the court?
Yes. He complained when Ham would take him off the floor. JJ needs to seperate friendship and coaching. If Luka is being attacked on defense JJ needs to take him out and change up the team. Just very bad coaching.
Denver did the same thing 48 hrs later and got a W
Rudy had 10 offensive rebounds and 25 overall. That’s how they lost. They had nobody rebounding.
How do you not have a single playable center? Even GS with Draymond has a few back up centers.
To be fair on Reddick, he doesn’t have the roster to do much. They are completely void of talent in the frontcourt – what is he meant to do, play Alex Len for 20 minutes?
The roster construction is horrendous, and I don’t think any coach could have found a way around it.
Lakers hoodwinked & bamboozled the nba with luka
But the basketball gods said hell no! What an embarrassing turn of events . Thats been mostly lebrons career. Occasionally W when teamed up with other superstars, usually L in humiliating fashion
Does he have any more sons he wants to force lakers to draft?
The whole industry was consumed by the Mavs handing the Lakers a title on a silver platter. Luka may a very good player, but last I checked he has no rings yet but Anthony Davis does. It’s certainly not clear yet that Luka has what it takes to win it all.
The whole industry was consumed by the Luka trade? That is gross overstatement. I’m sure FO had better things to do than worry about one trade.
It’s still discussed 24/7 on the nba channel on XM and its all the nba media have talked about since February. It’s not an overstatement.
The NBA has gotten over it. Media responds to what their audience wants. So, it is the audience “industry” that is consumed by it.
I think they may eventually win a title, but the general consensus from most pundits was that this year the team may be worse since they traded all the playable centers and would need an offseason to fix the roster holes
He doesn’t unless you are talking about eating 10 BK burgers in one sitting.
Huh? The Lakers didn’t go after Luka. Harrison went to the Lakers. Who was bamboozled? Most of the NBA had nothing to do with it. Umm…The Warriors were thinking about drafting Bronny. Bronny actually had a good season.
“Bronby had good season”
R u on crack
Serious Q
He avg 2 pts, shot 30%
He makes g leaguers look like larry bird
He was drafted at #55. He was expected to spend most of his time in the GLeague. His numbers in the GLeague were pretty good. You can look them up.
Everyone’s numbers in the GLeague are pretty good or better, including retreads, fringe rotation players, and guys who will never make it to the NBA. They are absolutely meaningless without context. The only relevancy they hold is if you *aren’t* pretty good, which would mean you have zero shot in the NBA.
Not saying Bronny can’t surprise people and improve enough to become a rotation player one day, but his stats down there don’t move the needle at all.
Wrong
His son has better stats than most people drafted in the same range as him
Because he was given more opportubities with his team?
If your stats suck, you don’t get many opportunities.
Well, Bronny got his opportunity even though his college stats sucked lol
He only played garbage time and the last game of the season. Reality is if you look at most late 2nd round picks they barley have stats or are out of the NBA within two years
They didn’t hoodwink the NBA – they hoodwinked ESPN, and a bunch of casual fans who couldn’t see the Lakers roster past Luka and LeBron.
Both LBJ and Luka were and continued to get banged up by getting bullied by the Wolves. They need a center and an enforcer who will alleviate some of the physicality and actually fight back. Divenxenzo should’ve been punched in the mouth for body checking LBJ, but not even a whistle was called. The Lakers need someone who will handle what the refs won’t and free up their stars to ball.
LeBron rammed into a much smaller player. That’s why no foul was called, if there was one it would’ve been on Bron.
Not a Lebron fan but Lebron will play for the Lakers in 25-26, Luka will get his new contract, these are givens. The major problem is that the Lakers are a no defense no rebounding team as it is right now especially with Luka now it was exposed by Minnesota. With Lebron in his 40’s and Luka with his only way to play is offense, the Lakers will have to fill out the roster with players capable to rebound, play head up defense with a little scoring to cover for Luka out of shape and no defense and Lebron taking plays on defense off in 25-26.
LeBron will play til he rips his Achilles. He just uses these media questions for more publicity. Otherwise, he would fade into the background again playing on another non-contender….
What a dumb question. LeBron is one of the greatest players ever and is focused on the playoffs. There is no time to also be considering his future career. Those are distractions he is wise enough to ignore until the season is over. And not 5 minutes after…more click bait tiktok garbage. Makes me sick
While still a terrible trade, watching Luka loaf on defense, limp up and down the court at times and just look 10 years older than he should, I’m not convinced he’s the best long term asset.
Imagine privately many of Luka’s teammates don’t like being on Luka’s team. Terrible defensive player, many bad shots, always complaining to the refs, looks out of shape, etc.
The Mavs could or should have gotten a more in the trade but in the long run the trade will be okay.
I could see Luka being a very early retirement candidate. Partly by choice and partly because of being adverse to ideal conditioning
I doubt he retires early. Might fall off a cliff earlier, but not outright retire. Even a diminished Luka would still have some value.
I’ve read that about Luka’s teammates, everyone was down on Niko Harrison for calling the Lakers and offering Luka, but could it be that Niko from afar seen that Luka is not going to lead his team to a championship and just saved Dallas somewhere near 350 million future contract on Luka. Yes, I believe he did not get enough for Luka in return. But this deal the Lakers will have to give Luka will hamstring the overall roster for the Lakers along with having to accommodate LJ not only salary wise but involve him in personal matters. The Lakers have many holes on this team right now, to make them a championship caliber team that was exposed against Minnesota. This Laker roster was a good regular season roster, but as a playoff roster not there most are more all-around teams that play both sides of the court.
The problem wasnt that they wanted to get out of the Luka business, its that they didnt get nearly what they should have back for him. You can have your concerns about him long term while also realizing he just led a team to the finals and has immense value around the league if you want to move on.
He’s obviously not playing at 100% this year, and the last few games he looked at 50%. Lakers will get Dirk to hound him this offseason to get into great shape.
Why would that be any different to the Mavs doing it? Dirk has an office at the Mavs training facility – Luka still turned up out of shape every season.
Maybe Nico Harisson was right all along LOL
If he got 4 more 1sts in the deal maybe
Max Christie is a really undervalued asset the Mavs got in the deal.
We all know LeBron’s ego wont let him retire without a farewell tour
LeBron will most likely be back next season and similar to last off season he’ll opt out and tell the Pelinka to do what he needs to do to make the team better then circle back to LeBron. Don’t forget he was willing to leave $15-20 million on the table if Klay were willing to sign.
The Lakers aren’t really that far away from contending. They have one of the best players in the game today, one of the best players of all time and Austin Reeves. I’m assuming they’ll come to terms with Dorian Finney-Smith. All they need is a wing that can keep up with Edwards that can hit wide open threes and a rim protecting center that can catch lobs along with a full season to gel.
Claxton should be their ideal target if the Nets are open to moving him; that may depend on how quickly they want to be aggressive in free agency. But he’s coming off a subpar year (partly because no one can get him the ball on that roster), has a high ceiling, and would be the perfect compliment to Luka. If they can land someone like him along with another credible backup I think they’ll be in good shape.
You giving up Reaves for Clax..??
I would take Claxton over Reaves in a heartbeat.
You can have him in a heartbeat.
They need a lob threat for Luka. It’s insane to not see that from his time on Dallas.
He’ll be back. It’s amazing to watch how good and athletic he is at 40 years old. And I have a sneaking suspicion that he’ll try to play the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
‘hey, maybe I can get more attention if I’m uncertain’. what a drama queen! what about Bronny?
Was they expected to win this year 🦹.
Bronny will lead them to a ring.
Who else is ready to jump into the “maybe the Luka trade wasn’t such a rip-off after all” boat with me?
Fully healthy Dallas is a better team than fully healthy L.A. and has more assets.
IMO, nothing that happened in this series speaks to the merits of the Luka trade. Particularly from the LAL perspective, which made the trade as a value proposition, and a long term one. I think the LAL FO, at the time, was prepared to take a step back this season, particularly after they failed to get a rim protecting C before the deadline expired. That view may have changed when the team looked great down the stretch of the regular season. But, in this series, from the get go, the LAL looked more like the team that they figured to be after the trade. MIN’s high level playoff defense forced the offensive issues to the surface, and the team hit a ceiling with their own defense that well short of even mediocre playoff level.
Long term it looks even worse than short term imo. Luka is not gonna age well.
Luka, even if he doesn’t age well, will age better than your post.
I like the fact how most are forgetting OR ignoring – likely the latter, though some desperately wish it was the former – LeBron, aka “The Chosen DUD”, has lost 12 (TWELVE) of his last 14 playoff games. Is this the best you can do, Lakers?? Where’s your pride/common sense/critical thinking skills?? DUMP THIS CHUMP along with your “acting” GM, Rob Pestinka!! Grow a couple, LOSS Angeles Lamers!! Dump these two….start anew!!