Colin Cowherd’s recent comments on The Herd struck a nerve with NBA fans everywhere: LeBron James is the latest casualty of the new CBA. That statement wasn’t meant as a knock on LeBron’s game, but rather a blunt assessment of how the league’s financial structure now punishes teams for carrying elite, high-salary veterans like LeBron.
“People around the NBA believe LeBron may announce this is his last season, and I do buy that, for two reasons primarily. Number one, clearly the Lakers feel Luka is the future.”
“Here’s the other thing: LeBron’s too expensive and too old, and everything with LeBron operates in the near term. Nobody operates like that now who knows what they’re doing. So LeBron’s just the latest casualty of the new CBA. And it’s not his play, he’s a top 10 to 12 guy on any night. His play is remarkable.”
“But he is now hard to sign. He’s an old, expensive guy. Sure, he’d take a four or five-year deal now. You shouldn’t pay him that. I do think it’s on the table for LeBron to announce, yeah, this is it.”
In his 23rd NBA season, LeBron James opted into his $52.6 million player option with the Los Angeles Lakers for 2025–26. Yet soon after, with Rich Paul’s statement, there was speculation that something seismic was coming.
Then Brian Windhorst and Ramona Shelburne reported LeBron felt disrespected by the Lakers’ reluctance to go all-in. And now, chatter is mounting that this could be his final season, one that ends with a full retirement tour, if he does choose to walk away.
The irony is glaring. Unlike past legends, Michael Jordan with the Wizards, Kobe Bryant in injury-plagued years, and Shaquille O’Neal bouncing between teams, LeBron is still elite.
He averaged 24.4 points and 8.2 assists, made the All-NBA Second Team, and finished sixth in MVP voting. On some nights, he still looks like the best player in the world. This isn’t a farewell tour born out of decline. It’s a structural squeeze, and the new CBA is to blame.
Enter the “Second Apron.”
Implemented in 2023, the new Collective Bargaining Agreement introduced punitive salary thresholds that heavily restrict teams who exceed them. The second apron, in particular, severely limits roster building: no sign-and-trades, no midlevel exceptions, no aggregating salaries in trades. It’s a deliberate constraint on the dynasties of old — the very kind LeBron hoped to build in L.A.
Draymond Green has been one of the most outspoken critics.
“One can only point to the ‘New CBA’ and the 2nd apron for absolutely putting an end to Free Agency, as we once knew it.”
Green even joked that he should have been NBPA president instead of CJ McCollum, suggesting he would have pushed back harder against the agreement.
These rules were designed to level the playing field and prevent big spenders like the Warriors and Clippers from hoarding talent. But the side effect? They hurt stars like LeBron, not for their play, but for their price.
Teams are now forced to weigh value not in talent alone, but in cap flexibility. And in that world, even the greatest player of a generation can become expendable.
Despite all this, LeBron’s value off the court hasn’t waned. He still drives jersey sales, TV ratings, and ticket prices. From a business standpoint, he’s gold. But from a front-office perspective, committing $50+ million to a 40-year-old when you’re trying to build a multi-year title window? That’s a gamble fewer execs are willing to take.
The Lakers, for now, have kept their 2026 cap sheet clean, a strategic move that could pave the way for a massive free agency run to pair another superstar with Luka Doncic.
Big names like Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic have been loosely linked to L.A. While those are long shots, the Lakers clearly want flexibility. That, too, puts a shadow over LeBron’s long-term fit.
Whether this really is LeBron’s “Last Dance” remains to be seen. But if it is, he won’t be leaving because he can’t play. He’ll be leaving because the business of basketball, reshaped by the new CBA, has no room left for a legend that refuses to fade.
