Cavaliers, Knicks, Mavericks Hope LeBron James Gets Bought out by Lakers Before Next NBA Season

The Cleveland Cavaliers, New York Knicks and Dallas Mavericks hope LeBron James gets bought out by the Los Angeles Lakers before the start of the 2025-26 NBA season, according to Anthony Irwin of ClutchPoints.

The Cavaliers, Knicks and Mavericks can only sign James if he reaches a buyout agreement with the Lakers before the 2025-26 NBA campaign begins.

Unfortunately for Cleveland, New York and Dallas, James hasn’t had any buyout or trade talks with Los Angeles, according to Joe Vardon and Dan Woike of The Athletic. All signs point toward the NBA legend remaining with the Lakers.

The reason many people thought James and the Lakers could part ways is because of what Rich Paul of Klutch Sports Group told Shams Charania of ESPN after James picked up his 2025-26 player option, which is worth $52.6 million. Paul made it seem like his client no longer had a future in Los Angeles.

“LeBron wants to compete for a championship,” Paul said. “He knows the Lakers are building for the future. He understands that, but he values a realistic chance of winning it all. We are very appreciative of the partnership that we’ve had for eight years with Jeanie [Buss] and Rob [Pelinka] and consider the Lakers as a critical part of his career.

“We understand the difficulty in winning now while preparing for the future. We do want to evaluate what’s best for LeBron at this stage in his life and career. He wants to make every season he has left count, and the Lakers understand that, are supportive and want what’s best for him.”

Paul’s statement was James’ way of putting pressure on Rob Pelinka to improve the roster around him and Luka Doncic.

James has been heavily linked to the Mavericks since Dallas has Kyrie Irving, Anthony Davis, Jason Kidd and Phil Handy, while Knicks president Leon Rose used to be James’ agent before Paul took over and new head coach Mike Brown coached the NBA icon in Cleveland. 

Everyone knows why James has been connected to the Cavaliers, the franchise he began his NBA career with. James is from Akron, Ohio. He has played for Cleveland twice and guided the organization to its only championship in 2016 against the Golden State Warriors.

While James is not happy that Pelinka doesn’t want to trade draft picks to improve the team right now, the leading scorer in NBA history will begin next season on the Lakers.