'Could be His Last Year' – NBA Insider Predicts LeBron James’ Future With the Lakers

On Wednesday, ESPN’s Dave McMenamin entertained the option of LeBron James potentially retiring after the 2025-26 season.

“I think we have to start thinking about this could be his last year in the league,” the NBA insider said.

“Rich Paul told me, ’Yeah, there was no extension talk cause we didn’t ask for an extension, we didn’t approach the subject.’ You could say, ‘Why didn’t the Lakers offer it?’ Rich Paul’s point to me was, ‘This wasn’t a point of tension. It’s not something that we were pursuing.’

“I think you’re looking at it like, there’s a very limited time in his career. We already kinda knew that. We knew that, basically since he reached 20 years in the league, he’s gone into every offseason contemplating retirement.”

LeBron James’ former teammate says the Lakers star cannot complain

Since the Lakers acquired Luka Doncic from the Dallas Mavericks last season, the front office has shifted its focus to building a future with the Slovenian star. However, this has reportedly affected LeBron James’ dynamic with L.A. This has led to multiple rumors of a potential trade or buyout for the four-time MVP.

However, James’ former teammate Richard Jefferson had an interesting opinion about the situation. According to the former NBA player in his podcast “Road Trippin’,” the 6-foot-9 forward doesn’t have the right to make complaints to the Lakers’ recent moves that cater more to his European co-star. Given that the 21-time All-Star could retire soon, L.A. is making sure to have something to build on to stay competitive before he calls it quits.

“He’s played the league for what, 22 years, or whatever. The NBA, he knows, the Lakers knows, everyone knows ‘Bron has one, maybe two years left,” Jefferson said. “And this is not based off of his ability. This is based off of what he is saying, what the overall energy is… We have to transition because everything is like five year plans, three year plans… like LeBron is not a part of their Lakers three year plan because he’s not a part of the NBA three year plan, because he’s most likely going to retire.

However, LeBron James hasn’t announced his retirement plans.