LeBron James concluded his record 23rd NBA season on Monday in disappointing fashion. After an upset first-round victory over the Houston Rockets, the Los Angeles Lakers were simply no match for the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder without Luka Dončić. The Thunder swept the Lakers in four games, officially ending James’ existing two-year, $101.3 million contract with the Lakers.
That sets James up for perhaps the most uncertain summer of his legendary NBA career. He is headed to unrestricted free agency, where he has changed teams three times and could do so again, but at no point during the 2025-26 season did he commit to playing a 24th NBA season. James has hinted throughout the season that he has not made any decisions regarding retirement, and he echoed that sentiment after Monday’s Game 4 loss.
“With my future, I don’t know,” James said after Game 4. “Obviously still fresh from losing. I don’t know. I don’t know what the future holds for me, obviously. As it stands right now tonight, I’ve got a lot of time. I’ll sit back like I think I said last year after we lost to Minnesota, I’ll go back and recalibrate with my family and talk with them and spend some time with them. When the time comes, obviously, you guys will know what I decide to do.”
What’s next for LeBron James? Setting odds for his next team, plus why retirement seems like real possibility
Sam Quinn
James acknowledged at this point, “there’s nothing I need to show in this league.” His motivation remains, as it always was, winning. “Just being able to compete and trying to win championships, that’s always been the motivating factor. ‘How can I compete for a championship?'”
James said he has no regrets despite the Lakers falling short in his 23rd season. “Listen, s—, I left everything I could out on the floor,” he said. He loves the game as much as ever, and noted that will remain the case so long as he continues to love all of the work that goes into it.
“The process to me has always been so much more important. Because if I fell out of love with the process, then I’d probably fall out of love with the game,” James said.
While James may no longer be the NBA’s best player, he proved fairly comfortably throughout this season that he is still capable of performing at a high level. Even in a down year, he averaged 20.9 points, 7.2 assists and 6.1 rebounds per game for the Lakers, and with his team decimated by injuries, led the Lakers through the first round against Houston by averaging 23.2 points, 8.3 assists and 7.2 rebounds per game.
The question for James has less to do with what he is capable of in an individual game, but how he can hold up across the full 82-game grind. He missed the first 14 games of this season due to sciatica. He would return and ultimately play 60 games, but he has acknowledged that he has not been back to 100% physically since 2021, when then-Atlanta Hawks forward Solomon Hill rolled into his leg. “My foot and my ankle ain’t been the same since,” James told ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “Ever since that injury, I’ve been fighting uphill to get it back to normal. But it’s been a little blah ever since.” James missed the next 20 Lakers games after that incident.
James is the ninth-oldest player in NBA history at over 41 years old. The modern era NBA age record is 44 years and 224 days, set by Kevin Willis. James would have to play four more seasons to top that, which seems unlikely, but James already owns pretty much every other notable longevity record. He surpassed Robert Parish for the most games played in NBA history earlier this season, and he passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for most minutes played in 2024.
If James elects to play next season, he is expected to attract interest from a number of potential suitors in free agency. The New York Knicks, Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers are among the teams rumored to be interested, though none are expected to have cap space to offer more than the minimum or mid-level exception. James has not taken a meaningful pay cut from the max since he played for the Miami Heat. The Lakers, given their full Bird Rights, are the team best positioned to pay him a substantial salary, though their willingness to do so will depend on other moves they have planned this summer.
Though not nearly the singular force he was at his peak, James is still more than capable of helping a team compete for a championship. His decision for now is whether he wants to continue pushing for that elusive fifth ring. If so, where will he do it? One of the greatest careers in the history of professional sports is nearing its conclusion, and now, the basketball world waits with bated breath to hear LeBron’s next, and perhaps final, decision.
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