Brian Windhorst suggests only 2 teams are in play for LeBron James in 2026-27

Brian Windhorst cannot envision LeBron James playing for a fourth different NBA team.

The ESPN analyst Windhorst appeared this week on “The Ryen Russillo Show.” During the episode, Windhorst spoke about the future of the Los Angeles Lakers star James beyond this season.

Windhorst indicated that he can only realistically envision James playing for two teams in 2026-27 — the incumbent Lakers as well as the Cleveland Cavaliers.

“I could see LeBron as a Cav or as a Laker,” said Windhorst. “Suppose that I could see him maybe one or two other places. Like, I could I could construct something. I could see that, but he doesn’t have anything to prove. He doesn’t need anything.

“And I think he can keep playing with the Lakers,” Windhorst added. “He’s just not going to do it at 50 million.”

James, who turns 41 later this month, is only under contract for this season at $52.6 million. Many have assumed that this will be James’ final year with the Lakers, in part because of his reported offseason issues with the team (as they look to fully build around the Luka Doncic era instead) and in part because retirement is also very much on the table for James after a whopping 23 NBA seasons.

To his credit, James has looked decent ever since missing the first month of the season due to a right sciatica issue. Though his overall numbers are down (18.6 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 7.5 assists per game), James has moved fairly nicely into a more complementary role for the 19-7 Lakers.

That would seemingly suggest that James could still have a future in a lesser capacity with the Lakers beyond this season. That could also be true of the Cavaliers, James’ native team whom he played 11 total seasons with and led to an NBA championship in 2016. Cleveland was also linked to a potential reunion with the four-time MVP James earlier this year after James posted a notable message about them over social media.