NBA Insider Doesn’t Expect LeBron James to Retire With Los Angeles Lakers

Hall of Fame NBA insider Marc Stein of The Stein Line doesn’t expect LeBron James to retire with the Los Angeles Lakers.

LeBron, 40, will make $52.6 million next season in the final year of his contract.

The leading scorer in NBA history, LeBron turns 41 in December. He’s been in the league since 2003.

“I believe that the 2025-26 season, purely speaking in a predictive voice, will not be LeBron James’ last,” Stein wrote. “I repeat: This is something only he can really know and more of a gut-feel read from me rather than reporting, but I fall into the camp that expects him to announce to the world that a certain season will be his last before it starts. The reality is that training camps don’t open leaguewide for two full months from now, so some patience must be applied to have a clearer picture, but to this point, there has been no indication that James has begun thinking in one-more-year terms. Not yet anyway.

“I believe that, by saying what I just said in the previous paragraph, it means that I expect him to retire in a uniform that isn’t purple and gold. It’s pretty clear at this juncture that the Lakers have launched the Luka Dončić Era. It certainly appears as though they are approaching the 2025-26 season as LeBron’s last in Tinseltown. If James doesn’t want retirement forced upon him, as one suspects, that almost certainly means he would have to find a new team next summer.”

LeBron signed with the Lakers in the offseason of 2018. He guided the organization to the 2020 championship against the Miami Heat in six games at the Walt Disney World bubble.

As Stein wrote, Los Angeles is now building around Dončić, who is only 26 years old. For the first time in his legendary NBA career, LeBron is not the focal point of the team he’s on.

A four-time Finals MVP, LeBron has played for the Cleveland Cavaliers (twice), Heat and Lakers. He has career averages of 27.0 points, 7.5 rebounds, 7.4 assists, 1.5 steals and 0.7 blocks.

LeBron will become an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2026 for the first time since 2018.