Report: LeBron James Leaving Lakers Not Ruled Out

According to Sam Amick and Jovan Buha of The Athletic, LeBron James leaving the Los Angeles Lakers has not been ruled out. 

James has a player option for next season. 

“So, might James think about finishing his career elsewhere in pursuit of a fifth ring? When posed that question, both league sources close to James and team sources would not rule that possibility out. And that was before the revealing elimination game,” Amick and Buha wrote. 

James is 40 years old. He’s the oldest active player in the NBA. The leading scorer of all time averaged 24.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 8.2 assists during the 2024-25 regular season.

The Lakers lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the playoffs despite having James and Luka Doncic. 

“You don’t know what the (Lakers) roster will look like next year besides the guys that (are) locked into contracts,” James said. “S—, I got a lot to think about myself. So I don’t know what the roster will look like. I don’t know where I stand right now.”

James joined the Lakers in 2018. Los Angeles missed the playoffs in 2019, won the title in 2020, lost in the first round in 2021, missed the playoffs in 2022, lost in the conference finals in 2023, lost in the first round in 2024 and lost in the first round in 2025. 

“For me, since my first NBA Finals appearance in 2007, the moment I got an opportunity to be a part of that and taste that feeling, from there on, every season that I did not make it to the Finals or did not win the championship has been a disappointment,” James said. “So … it will be an offseason of disappointment and unfulfillment.”

James is a four-time MVP, a four-time champion and a four-time Finals MVP. He’s played for the Cleveland Cavaliers (twice), Miami Heat and Lakers. 

James turns 41 in December.