LeBron James’ mentality points to LA Lakers exit as franchise remains inactive in free agency so far

LeBron James evaluating LA Lakers moves to decide his future

Shams Charania spoke on ESPN about LeBron James’ current stance with the LA Lakers. He noted that LeBron and the Lakers are prioritizing two different goals.

And if the Lakers aren’t able to make the right moves this offseason, James will consider his future with the team and try to move elsewhere.

“Right now, LeBron James understands the Lakers are prioritizing the future in a lot of ways, that really centers around Luka Doncic. He knows they’re going to get younger at different points.

“They are really prioritizing two-year contracts; they want to have max salary space in 2027. But for his part, at this point in his career, at 40 years old, he wants to compete for a championship, wherever that may be…

“The Lakers and their president, Rob Pelinka, are being active; they’re trying to figure out how to get a center right now in free agency and wing depth.

“LeBron James is very closely evaluating how this goes with the Lakers and where he would want his career to be as he winds down. Whether he has one year left, two years left, or three years left. What we’re seeing right now is essentially a moment of truth between LeBron James and the Lakers.”

Rob Pelinka and LA Lakers eyeing cap space for 2027 offseason

It appears Rob Pelinka and the LA Lakers are more concerned with ensuring that the team have enough cap space ahead of the 2027 NBA offseason. This is why they weren’t aggressive in re-signing Dorian Finney-Smith.

“Though Finney-Smith was a popular locker room figure and helped the Lakers to a 14-6 record in the 20 games he started in the regular season, L.A. exercised discipline in its negotiations to preserve cap space for 2027, when the team expects to have space to sign a max-salary free agent.”

Perhaps this is a sign that the Lakers consider building around Luka Doncic a bigger priority than helping LeBron James win another championship.

If that is the case, the Lakers might be better off trading him. Perhaps the Lakers trade LeBron to the Mavericks, thus allowing Nico Harrison to pull off his master plan as they build a solid team around Luka.