All doesn’t appear to be well behind the scenes between LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers. A fair few interesting reports have come out in recent weeks, and one ESPN article stated that James was not even notified about the Buss family selling their majority stake in the Lakers to Mark Walter. It turns out that wasn’t the case, though, as the article has now gotten a notable update.
“When the Buss family agreed to sell a majority stake in the franchise to Mark Walter on June 18, Doncic was given a heads-up and notably posted a congratulations on social media afterward. After the publication of this article, sources said James was notified of the sale, via his representation. But he did not post any public acknowledgement.”
It was somewhat alarming that Luka Doncic was given a heads-up about the sale, but James wasn’t. That initial report just further added to the notion that the 21-time All-Star had just been completely pushed to the side by the franchise.
James’ interests were once the top priority for the Lakers, but that appears to no longer be the case following Doncic’s arrival. Still, things haven’t gotten so bad between the two parties that he wasn’t even informed beforehand about Walter getting majority ownership of the franchise at a $10 billion valuation.
Should this make Lakers fans more optimistic about James staying? Well, it’s hard to say. Recently, James’ agent and Klutch Sports Group CEO Rich Paul made it clear that his client hadn’t asked for a trade and hadn’t even brought up the possibility of doing so in the future.
Paul did add, though, that four teams had contacted him with interest in trading for James, who averaged 24.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, 8.2 assists, 1.0 steals, and 0.6 blocks per game in 2024-25. It will be interesting to see how this situation pans out.
NBA insider Shams Charania stated we’ll know about James’ future within two months, with some hard conversations eventually taking place. The point of contention here appears quite simple.
The 40-year-old James wants the Lakers to make moves to maximize their chances of winning now with him. The front office, meanwhile, is keeping an eye on the future as they look to compete long-term with Doncic as the centerpiece.
The Lakers lost Dorian Finney-Smith in free agency partly because of their refusal to give him a long-term deal. According to Charania, they are prioritizing having enough cap space in 2027 to sign a star in free agency. As a result, the Lakers are only interested in handing out two-year deals, which is what Deandre Ayton and Jake LaRavia got.
This doesn’t seem like the right approach, as the Lakers are not only hurting their chances of winning now with Doncic and James on the roster, but they are also potentially wasting two years of the former’s prime. Time will tell if the front office’s stance this summer was a masterstroke or a blunder.
Even if James doesn’t get traded in the coming weeks or months, it does seem likely that 2025-26 will be his last season with the Lakers. His tenure with the franchise has been somewhat of a rollercoaster ride. James led them to a title in 2020 and the Western Conference Finals in 2023, but hasn’t had any postseason success outside of those two runs.
