LeBron James‘ future is still very much up in the air, as he is set to hit free agency in the summer. James could stay with the Los Angeles Lakers, or go to another team, or even walk away from the game.
Should James opt to continue his NBA career elsewhere, insider Jake Fischer reports that the Golden State Warriors, Cleveland Cavaliers, and New York Knicks could be on his radar. These are teams that he has been linked to for a while now.
The Cavaliers have often been seen as the likeliest landing spot if James were to leave the Lakers. The 22-time All-Star is, of course, an Akron native and spent 11 seasons in total with the franchise. James finishing his career with his hometown team would be quite fitting.
The Cavaliers’ big guns appear to want a reunion of the franchise and its greatest player as well. Donovan Mitchell and James Harden reportedly plan to play a role in recruiting James this summer. They will have competition, though.
Warriors icons Stephen Curry and Draymond Green will reportedly heavily recruit James as well. Their relationships with him might give them the upper hand. Green has been a good friend of James for quite some time now. The 41-year-old appears to have grown closer to Curry over the years, too, and they were teammates on Team USA at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Seeing them play together again would be quite special.
As for the Knicks, well, they reportedly wanted to sign James when he became a free agent in 2010, 2014, and 2018. He decided against going to New York on each occasion, but things might be different this time around.
While all of these teams would be serious title contenders with James, they’ll need him to take a significant pay cut. He is making $52.6 million in this 2025-26 season, and none of the three is in a position to give him that kind of a deal. He is not good enough to command it either.
James is averaging 20.7 points, 6.0 rebounds, 7.0 assists, 1.1 steals, and 0.6 blocks per game in 2025-26. He is still capable of dominating games, just not as consistently as he once did.
If James is willing to take less money, though, the Lakers would like him to stay as well, according to insider Dave McMenamin.
“Usually, he’d sign like a one-plus-one deal that would give him a player option to exercise that if he wanted to, but he’s an unrestricted free agent, and we’ll see if he wants to retain his job with the Lakers,” McMenamin said. “They do have an interest in welcoming him back, but then it becomes about what the number is. The Lakers are going to want to fit this team around Luka Doncic moving forward. It doesn’t mean LeBron can’t be part of that mix, but certainly not at the $52.6 million contract he’s making right now. If LeBron chooses to prioritize his salary, there will be other options for him.”
Winning a championship has to be the biggest priority for James at this stage of his career. He has already made over $500 million in salaries in the NBA and is a billionaire. One last big contract is not going to change James’ life in any way. He might think otherwise, though.
It will be very interesting to see what James opts to do this summer. If the red-hot Lakers, who are currently third in the West with a 50-26 record, go on a deep playoff run, he might just be tempted to stick around.
