At some point earlier this summer, there was speculation that LeBron James might not return to the 2025-26 Los Angeles Lakers.
But the historic scorer is still in purple and gold after choosing his $52.6 million player option.
His camp and the Lakers realized that the deal was difficult to achieve.
“It's automatic mute since James has been through his agent Rich Paul, who tried to rattle immediately after exercising the $52.6 million player option this season,” wrote ESPN's Tim MacMahon. “The historically leading scorer and his camp understand how complex his trade is in his age, earned so much money and vetoed contract rights for any deal.”
James entered his 40 years, with no contract extensions after this season.
This uncertainty has only sparked speculation about whether this might be his last year in Los Angeles and even the NBA.
Hall of Fame member Charles Barkley recently weighed, urging James to make a decision soon.
“LeBron will have to keep moving forward at some point,” Barkley said on the Bettor Angle Podcast. “Even if he's been putting up a lot of numbers, they haven't succeeded in about four years. ”
Meanwhile, the Lakers began spinning towards Luka Doncic after the blockbuster trade brought him to Los Angeles last summer.
“It’s now Luca’s team,” Barkley added. “You're not going to sign and trade Luca Doncic, give him all the money, it's not his team.”
Golden State has reportedly checked James to pair Stephen Curry several times, but as Marc Stein reported, Rich Paul warned both teams not to work too hard and worry about a potential rebound.
“Source said Paul begged both teams to cut the concept … mainly because he wanted to isolate James from the potential rebound,” Stein wrote.
Read more: Warriors' multiple calls to the Lakers against LeBron James
