Cavaliers Wouldn’t Be Able To Sign LeBron James If He Gets Bought Out By Lakers During Next Season

The Cleveland Cavaliers wouldn’t be able to sign LeBron James if he gets bought out by the Los Angeles Lakers during next season. 

The Cavaliers can’t trade for James either since the NBA legend makes too much money ($52.6 million). 

Cleveland can only reunite with James if the Akron native gets bought out by the Lakers this offseason. 

“As an example, one of the teams regularly linked to James as a possible destination in a hypothetical departure from Los Angeles is his former franchise in Cleveland. Except, because the Cavs have one of the highest payrolls in the league and are over the dreaded second apron, they are barred from trading for James right now because they do not have any players making $52.6 million. Teams over the second apron may not aggregate salaries in trades,” Joe Vardon and Dan Woike of The Athletic wrote. 

“If James had wanted to rejoin Cleveland, which posted the best record in the Eastern Conference last season and has a deep roster, the easiest way would have been to decline his player option and sign with the Cavs for a fraction of what he makes now. And if the Cavaliers wanted to deal for James, they would first need to get under the second apron by sacrificing players and assets and then would need to sacrifice key pieces in their rotation to match James’ salary.

“If the Lakers were to buy him out of his contract before the start of training camp, he would be free to sign with the Cavs. But if the Lakers were to buy him out during the regular season, he would be barred from signing with Cleveland because of restrictions on teams above the second apron.”

James is expected to remain with the Lakers, as the two sides haven’t talked about a trade or buyout. 

The 40-year-old James will become an unrestricted free agent after next season for the first time since 2018. 

The leading scorer of all time, James made the All-NBA Second Team and finished sixth in MVP voting last season. He remains an elite player despite being the oldest active player in the NBA. 

The Cavaliers lost to the Indiana Pacers in the second round of the 2025 playoffs in five games. They haven’t advanced past the conference semifinals since 2018. James guided Cleveland to the NBA Finals in 2018.