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NBA: LeBron James Accepts $52.6 Million Player Option With The Lakers

He will play the 2025-26 season in LA and could become a free agent next off-season.

Written by Matthew Gideon
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NBA: LeBron James Accepts $52.6 Million Player Option With The Lakers

NBA superstar LeBron James picked up his $52.6 million player option that will see him play the 2025-26 season with the Los Angeles Lakers, his agent and Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul told ESPN’s Shams Charania earlier today. Paul also said that his client wants to contend for a championship and that James “will be closely monitoring” the Lakers’ off-season moves to determine if the team is in a good position to compete for a title.

“LeBron wants to compete for a championship,” Rich Paul told ESPN. “He knows the Lakers are building for the future. He understands that, but he values a realistic chance of winning it all… We understand the difficulty in winning now while preparing for the future. We do want to evaluate what’s best for LeBron at this stage in his life and career. He wants to make every season he has left count, and the Lakers understand that, are supportive, and want what’s best for him.”

In July 2024, LeBron James signed a two-year, $101.3 million contract extension with the Lakers that included a player option for the 2025-26 season. If the Lakers are unable to sign James to another contract extension, then he will become a free agent during the 2026 off-season.

“Every season that I did not make it to the Finals or did not win the championship has been a disappointment,” James said following Los Angeles’ first-round playoff loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. “So it’d be the same for me. It’d be the same off-season of disappointment and unfulfillment, having an opportunity to play longer and give yourself an opportunity to play for the Larry O’Brien Trophy. Nothing changes for me.”

LeBron James, who turns 41 this December, is already the NBA’s all-time leading scorer with 42,184 career points during the regular season. Last year, he was 13th in the league in scoring, averaging 24.4 points per game.

Is Lebron done in LA after next season?

Lakers fans should be thrilled that LeBron decided to pick up his player option clause for this season. Had he rejected the option, he would’ve become a free agent and been allowed to sign elsewhere. With that being said, though, LeBron James will probably only play one more season in Los Angeles and test free agency in 2026.

It’s safe to say that outside of the lone championship that LeBron and the Lakers won during the COVID season, James’ tenure with LA has been disappointing. This is a guy who once made ten straight NBA Finals appearances. But since the 2020-21 season, the Lakers have missed the postseason once and been bounced out of the first round of the playoffs three times.

It’s not like the Lakers haven’t been trying to improve. After failing to make the playoffs in LeBron’s first season in LA, the Lakers made a blockbuster trade to acquire Anthony Davis from the New Orleans Pelicans. Following another disappointing playoff performance in 2024, Los Angeles made another trade to bring in Luka Dončić, arguably one of the ten best basketball players in the world. It’s also worth noting that the Lakers are on their fourth coach of the LeBron James era. The franchise has tried to do everything to field a championship roster, but the results just haven’t been there recently.

Currently, there are ongoing rumors that the Lakers will be looking to add a game-changing center this off-season. Though they drafted a big man (Arkansas power forward Adou Thiero), it seems unlikely that a second-round draft pick will have an immediate impact on a team like Los Angeles, which is looking to win a championship right away. Even if they are able to pull off a trade for a guy like the Brooklyn Nets’ Nic Claxton or the Utah Jazz’s Walker Kessler, that still might not be enough to get them over the hump in a highly-competitive Western Conference.

It’s unlikely that the Los Angeles Lakers will win the 2026 NBA Finals, but it’s not impossible. If they can add an impactful center and Luka Dončić can return to his 2023-24 form, then the Lakers will be in the thick of things in the West. But with the reigning champs and the 2023 champions in the same conference, LA will probably come up short again in the playoffs, which will lead to LeBron James testing out free agency during the 2026 off-season.

When will the King James retire?

We are probably in the final stages of LeBron James’ career. People have been saying that for years, but I actually believe that LeBron James is going to retire within the next two years.

James has already been hearing pleas to retire from members of his own family. In a recent Instagram post, James said that his wife, Savannah, “wants me to f*cking retire in the next year or so.” LeBron is his own man and will make the choice that is best for him, but when your partner wants you to retire, that will undoubtedly impact your decision.

In all likelihood, LeBron James probably wants to play on the same court as his youngest son, Bryce James, who recently signed a deal to play college basketball at the University of Arizona. Bryce James will be eligible to enter the 2026 NBA Draft. And since the NBA Draft takes place before free agency begins, the team that drafts Bryce James will probably also end up signing LeBron James as well.

Where Bryce James is drafted remains to be seen. After all, this kid hasn’t played a single minute of college basketball. If Bryce James’ college statistics are similar to Bronny’s, then Bryce will probably not be a highly sought-after draft prospect, and the Lakers will have a chance to take him and keep LeBron on their roster. But if Bryce James excels at the college level, then LA and several other teams might not even have a chance to draft Bryce James because he will be taken with a high draft pick.

Based on the timeline just laid out, LeBron James will be able to play on the same court as Bryce during the 2026-27 season. Therefore, LeBron James will probably retire in 2027.

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