Discussing his future on the latest episode of the Mind the Game podcast with co-host Steve Nash (YouTube link), Lakers forward LeBron James said he’ll need to take some time before he decides whether or not to continue his career and what the 2026/27 season might hold for him.
“I haven’t even really thought about it too much,” James said, per Khobi Price of The California Post. “Obviously, I understand that I’m a free agent and I can control my own destiny — being here with (the Lakers) for a foreseeable future or if it’s going somewhere else. But like, I haven’t even really even got to that point. I haven’t even taken my family vacation yet, which is going to happen after Memorial Day. That’s kind of the thing at the forefront of my mind.
“But, I think at some point in June, late June, as July rolls around, free agency starts to get going and as July rolls around and maybe into August, we start to kind of get a feel of what my future may look like. If it’s continuing to play the game that I love, which I know I can still give so much to the game and play at a high level, or if it’s not. But I have not gotten to that point yet.”
As Dave McMenamin of ESPN writes, James also addressed Los Angeles’ second-round loss to the Thunder during his discussion with Nash, suggesting that the Lakers – going up against the defending champions without top scorer Luka Doncic – were simply facing a talent deficit.
“We were not outworked, they didn’t out-physical us, they didn’t outsmart us,” LeBron said. “I feel like we were just out-talented by OKC. … At the end of the day, we failed in talent. OKC just possessed so much more talent than us. You can tip your cap to them, obviously, in understanding that. But you can’t get caught up in that, especially when you know you were undermanned.”
Here’s more on the Lakers:
- In an interesting story for Yahoo Sports, Yaron Weitzman examines how new Lakers owner Mark Walter has tasked the same two executives – Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi – who helped turn the Los Angeles Dodgers’ front office into one of MLB’s most sophisticated and successful operations to follow a similar blueprint with the Lakers. While Rob Pelinka and Kurt Rambis have led the search for a pair of new assistant general managers, Friedman and Zaidi have also been involved, Weitzman says, with at least one of them sitting in on most interviews.
- There has been some speculation about the involvement of Friedman and Zaidi leading to the Lakers replacing Pelinka as their head of basketball operations, but that’s not currently the plan, according to Weitzman, who notes that Pelinka is the one leading discussions with player agents in contract discussions and has told people he’s working “in collaboration” with the Dodgers execs.
- The Lakers offered Timberwolves assistant GM Steve Senior an executive VP of basketball operations role, but Senior opted to remain in Minnesota, multiple league sources tell Weitzman.
- Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron (Substack link) takes a closer look at the Lakers’ upcoming offseason, explaining what the team could do with its projected cap room and exploring what sort of contracts their free agents might get. Gozlan projects a deal in the neighborhood of $35-40MM per year for Austin Reaves and believes Rui Hachimura could receive a salary in the range of the full non-taxpayer mid-level exception ($15MM+).
Do you really think someone with his ego will walk without a “farewell” tour?
Only way LeBron doesn’t come back next year if something world shattering happens in his world. Other than that a 99% chance he plays next year.
Say what you want about Pelinka, but he’s the reason Luka is a Laker. Nico only talked to Pelinka about trading Luka