The biggest question hanging over the Lakers heading into free agency was always what would happen with LeBron James. The team had already taken care of their top priority by re-signing Austin Reaves to a four-year, $185 million deal before the market even opened. With that out of the way, LeBron’s future was the last major piece to figure out for the 2026-27 season.
Deandre Ayton has already picked up his $8.1 million player option. Meanwhile, Marcus Smart declined his option and is now targeting a three-year deal with the Rockets, according to Kelly Iko. Those moves cleared some space and set the stage for what comes next.
After the latest update from Shams Charania, it is pretty clear where things stand. LeBron James has informed the Lakers that he will play another season at age 41, but it will be somewhere else. He is leaving the franchise after eight seasons and one championship in 2020. That is a big moment for a player who became a major icon of the team’s recent history.
Shams also reported that Lakers president Rob Pelinka and Rich Paul spoke about James’ plans, and that the Lakers expressed they wanted him back, but he still decided to go elsewhere.
The news brings real relief to the Warriors. There had been growing rumors connecting the team to both LeBron and Anthony Davis, with the goal of putting them alongside Stephen Curry for the next chapter. Now that path looks more open than ever.
LeBron will be an unrestricted free agent when the market officially opens tomorrow. While he has not made his plans public, everything points to him signing a new deal with the Warriors for less than his full market value. He would be leaving significant money on the table, the same way Draymond Green did by declining his $27 million player option to help create the necessary cap space.
LeBron just finished a strong 2025-26 season, his 23rd in the NBA. In 60 games, he averaged 20.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 7.2 assists while shooting 51.5% from the field. Even at 41, he was still producing at a high level and helping the Lakers in the playoffs. He had been linked to both the Cavaliers and the Warriors throughout the year, but it now looks like he will team up again with Curry and Green in San Francisco in the coming days.
He came off a massive max contract that included a $52.6 million player option for last season. The big question now is exactly how much money he is willing to leave behind to join the Warriors, the Cavaliers, if something surprising happens, or possibly another team that has not been mentioned yet.
With the Lakers, LeBron is walking away from an important era. Over eight seasons, he played 479 games and averaged 25.9 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 7.9 assists while shooting 51.3% from the field. He delivered the 2020 championship and earned Finals MVP honors that year, becoming the only player to win the award with three different teams. He also passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the NBA’s all-time leading scorer while wearing purple and gold, and he got to share the court with his son Bronny.
If he ends up with the Cavaliers, he would join a very talented group that already includes James Harden, Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen. Cleveland finished the regular season with a strong 52-30 record and advanced all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals before getting swept by the Knicks.
The challenge there would be money. Any deal would likely have to come in well below the mid-level exception, probably under $6.1 million or so, which could be tough to make work. With the Warriors, the situation looks more flexible. Draymond Green declining his option opened the door, so Golden State should have room to offer LeBron something closer to the $15.1 million mid-level exception, or even better, with the space they created.
That would let him pair with Curry, a teammate he has always seemed interested in playing with again. There is also the possibility of adding Anthony Davis if the Warriors can swing a trade, most likely involving Jimmy Butler, who is still recovering from an ACL injury he suffered in January.
The next few days should bring more clarity. LeBron still has plenty left to give, and whichever team lands him will be getting a player who can still impact games in big ways even as he enters year 24. For the Lakers, though, it marks the end of a run that brought them a title and kept them relevant for nearly a decade.
