Speaking to reporters at his end-of-season press conference on Tuesday, Lakers president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka confirmed that the team would welcome back LeBron James if he wants to re-sign in free agency, per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. Pelinka pointed out that “any team, including ours” would love to have James on its roster.
“We probably haven’t seen a player that has honored the game to the extent that he’s honored the game,” Pelinka said. “He’s given so much to his teammates, to this organization. And the thing we want to do more than anything else is honor him back.
“… The first order of business there is allowing him to spend the time he needs to decide what his next steps are. Does he want to play another year in the NBA? And that’ll be [decided through] family time, I think time with his inner circle. And we just want to honor that for him.”
As McMenamin writes in a separate story, James and the Lakers haven’t always seen eye to eye — LeBron believes the team has taken him for granted at times, and a source close to him suggests Los Angeles tried to “push him out the door” after acquiring Luka Doncic last year. However, their relationship was described as mostly “harmonious” during the 2025/26 season, according to McMenamin, who says it could be in both sides’ best interests to keep it going.
As McMenamin writes, the last time James signed with Los Angeles, he took a little less than the max and conveyed that he would’ve been willing to take a bigger pay cut if the team had been able to land one of the free agent targets on his wish list. That precedent suggests the 41-year-old will be “reasonable” in contract talks this offseason, though a source familiar with James’ thinking tells ESPN that he won’t just be seeking a specific dollar figure and that the Lakers’ approach to negotiations will matter.
“The Lakers can’t just offer James a number. They have to offer a why behind that number,” one agent told McMenamin. “Their plan for any discount would have to be coherent.”
Here’s more on the Lakers:
- In addition to addressing James’ upcoming free agency, Pelinka also expressed strong interest on Tuesday in re-signing Austin Reaves if he declines his option in favor of free agency, which is considered a lock. “He started his journey here as a Laker and has made it very clear to us that he wants his journey to continue as a Laker,” Pelinka said, according to McMenamin. “And we feel the same way. We want his odyssey to continue to unfold in the purple and gold. … Both sides have made it abundantly clear that we want to work something out where he continues his prolific career here.”
- Lakers head coach JJ Redick, who also appeared at Tuesday’s presser, told reporters that his goals for next saeson are to improve the defense and develop a stronger, more reliable bench. He also echoed Pelinka’s message about bringing back James and Reaves alongside Doncic. “We want that core to be back together,” Redick said. “All three of those guys showed a lot of growth this year. I think a lot has been made about Luka’s fitness level and his dedication to that. He was great throughout the season. He’s still in fantastic shape six weeks after an injury. But he’s also grown as a leader.”
- Pelinka confirmed that building a roster that complements Doncic and maximizes his strengths is the Lakers’ top priority, as Dan Woike of The Athletic relays. “The archetype of the roster that we want is going to be retrofitted around Luka and the things he needs,” Pelinka said. “Clearly, he’s that leader and that player for the future that we want to build the right way around.”
- Pelinka told reporters, including Thuc Nhi Nguyen of The Los Angeles Times, that the team plans to hire two assistant general manager this offseason and has already begun interviewing for those positions. One of those two new hires will focus on pro and draft scouting and player development, while the other would be on the strategy side, with a focus on analytics and the salary cap. “It’s not that we’ve had holes in those places,” Pelinka said. “We got a great team of people that works incredibly hard. It’s just we want to add more to that.”
The Lakers will not get better by resigning LBJ. He will be 42 and will probably decrease in playing time and effectiveness. Time to move on.
It’s depends on that number. LeBron is no where near a 53 million player anymore but I’d still rank him amongst the back half of the top 30. If he’s willing to play for $25-30 million (that’s not taking a discount, I feel that’s what his on court production is worth)the Lakers would be fools not to resign him.
He seemed pretty effective leading a team with far less talent to a series win vs the rockets. I need someone to explain how this team gets better without him. And don’t say free agency and the draft. Specifically what players are they getting / drafting that improve the team next year that moving on from LeBron makes sense.
LeBron James is among the all-time greats. Where he ranks in that group obviously varies from one observer to the next. Some basketball fans like to rely on emotions, biases (including ‘recency’), and media’s influence. As for me, there’s no doubt I’ve been swayed deep into the ‘ANTI-LeBRON’ side for the better part of a decade now. Still, I try to be as objective as possible when considering my own ranking of all-time NBA greats. Despite all his flaws and suspicions for how he has been able to play for so long, I think LeBron has done enough to warrant upper-echelon (top 10) consideration.
It occurred to me, though, once it was evident James’ Lakers were going to move on from the Rockets, there was going to be a good chance James and the Lakers would get ousted rather quickly in the second round to the defending champs. And this had me wondering: if such a scenario were to happen (say, OKC in 4 or 5), this would be a rather dubious distinction on LeBron’s playoff resume – being smacked/BTA’d/embarrassed (whatever you want to call it) out of every single one of the four rounds of the playoffs in just a decade’s span. Once it DID happen, then this had me wondering if it’s ever happened among ANY of the other all-time NBA greats who played during the time when it took four rounds to win a title.
I was well aware no major media outlet would do the luxury of researching such a topic. So I’m going to take it upon myself to carry it out and present the findings over the course of the next few months…….
PLEASE NOTE: This effort in no way is an attempt to dispute/deny LeBron James from what I like to call “the upper echelon of NBA greats” – this echelon does not necessarily need to be an exact number, per se, but just know that, for now, let’s think of it as being the top 10 to 20 players of all time. But if, after my findings, LeBron happens to be alone with this unenviable distinction, then it becomes further fuel for as to why it would be hard to even consider him a ‘Top 5’.
reading this made me much more stupider
He’s doing that thing where he tells someone no offense but… and then says something offensive immediately.
He’s essentially using the fact that lebron has been good for so long as an argument against him. Because 38 year old LeBron being swept by Jokic and SGA. You know the reigning MVPs either the year they won a title or the year they are defending a title. That somehow impacts his legacy in a way that should make him not top 5. A standard we would hold literally no other player 20 years in the league deep to. But because LeBron is still really good and not fallen off a cliff like 99.999% of athletes across any sport at his age we will hold it against him.
Mind you there won’t be any discussion about how Jordan couldn’t even make the playoffs at all his finals two years. That will be conveniently be left out. Or god rest his soul Kobe not making the playoffs his final 5 years. Because not making the playoffs is obviously better than getting swept by the Jokic and SGA in their primes while they are winning championships and MVPs.
Minor error. From my research, Kobe didn’t make the playoffs in his final three years in the league (not five). You have a valid argument, DarkGhost. But to that, I ask: how many more times does LeBron have to lose in the playoffs to regular-season MVPs – on eventual champions – before he realizes it’s not his time or place to be in the league anymore?? Why does he keep playing when what is supposed to be the end goal eludes him further and further? Do you honestly believe a player of Luka’s stature, at this stage of his career (his prime), sincerely enjoys all that comes with being teammates with a player of LeBron’s stature?? There comes a time in every professional athletes career when he must swallow his pride and accept it’s not about HIM anymore and it’d be best to let the players who ARE in their prime carry the torch. Why is this process taking longer for LeBron than virtually every other player that came before him?? He’s won his championships. He’s been MVP. He’s got the scoring title. Why continue to play at this point? Does this circumstance, in any way, resemble a person who has all the money in the world but continues to desire more….is never happy. What is the reason behind this? Doesn’t the fact that when he states in the after-game presser he’s “not disappointed with the season he had” he’s obviously ignoring the bigger picture and is just thinking about himself and his stats, which should not surprise anyone who has been following his tumultous playing career.
You are correct. Lakers went 5 years without making the playoffs however Kobe retired after year 3 of that.
I find it interesting your start to all of this was a post about how you attempt to be unbiased and fair. But has devolved into a post clearly demonstrating you don’t like LeBron and think he should retire because you want him to.
He clearly doesn’t have to retire based on his ability. He just proved there aren’t 15 other players alive you would rather lead a team in the playoffs. You then state it’s clearly because he’s selfish and only cares about himself and his stats. That seems an odd statement again for someone claiming to be making an unbiased case. Could it not be he is playing still because he loves the game? Could it not be that he loves the competition? Could it not be he loves playing with his son? The guy that willing took on being a 3rd option this year not because AR is better than him but because the team needed him to do the things AR doesn’t have the ability to do is somehow selfish and all about himself. Then the second his two co-stars went out switched for being a willing 3rd options immediately back into a primary option. If anything his level of play proves it’s not selfish of him to continue playing. Selfish would be a player that can’t play at an NBA level but insists on pressing on harming the team because he can’t let go. Is that what you saw in the Houston series? I don’t think there are 10 actual unbiased observers that would come to that conclusion.
I believe you then say why is the process taking longer for him than virtually any player before of that stature before him. You mean like Micheal Jordan coming out of retirement the same year he drafts Kwame Brown No.1 and forces his way on to that wizards team? Or Kobe Bryant going on a good bye tour taking the attention and development reps away from DiAngelo Russell and Julius Randal all while shooting an objectively horrendous 35% from the field? Or Kareem hanging on with Lakers while average 10 points and 5 rebounds. I don’t know I guess you would have to ask the guys of that stature yourself why they can’t let it go. However unlike all of those guys LeBron still has the ability to be a contributor to a team that makes the playoffs and then when his two co-star players get hurt lead that less talented team to a series win. And since we’re having this conversation about LeBron I assume you feel the same way about Steph Curry and Kevin Durant as well. Those are the other two all great guys that have won their MVPs and championships, obviously if you think it’s time for LeBron to hang it up it has to be time for them as well seeing as KD hasn’t won a playoff series in 3 years and Steph can’t stay healthy enough to get this team out of the play in.
Next to your Luka not wanting him comment. I don’t know have you asked Luka his thoughts are. If I was Luka I would really value having another player on the team that is so good when I get hurt he can win a playoff series with me glued to the bench extending my teams season in hopes I could possibly return. Not a whole of 3rd options in league history let alone in today’s game that can win playoff series with the top two offensive options hurt. Jordan and Kobe couldn’t even make the playoffs at the end let alone win series as the primary option.
Finally you mentioned his post season presser about not being disappointed. He was on a team that was a top 3 seed in the west and had won 12 games in a row in march before their all world offensive engine that averaged 33 points per game this year tore his hamstring and missed the entire postseason. Take literally any team in the league and have their best player not be able to play in the playoffs and see how that goes for them. Obviously you must also think it’s time for Jalen Brown to retire as well then right. Because his team just blew a 3-1 lead in the playoffs and he said it was his favorite year ever.
You want to have a personal opinion about LeBron cool, you want to not like LeBron cool, you want him to retire cool. It’s all your opinion and you’re entitled too. But don’t act like researching a stat that is specifically to slam a guy comes from an unbiased place. And if we’re going to hold LeBron to a certain standard then hold everyone to that standard.
That’s where you’re veering off course a bit. I’m biased in thinking his time has passed and he should step aside and let the much younger (super)stars of the league shine brighter – just like every other superstar has gracefully done before him (sure, Jordan coming out of retirement to play for Wizards probably wasn’t best decision of his career; but, what, that took his years played/grip on the league from 13 to 15 seasons – if you wanna count ‘95?). But me not liking/rooting for LeBron, as a player in the NBA, does not make me biased in the sense I wouldn’t envision him as a top 10 all-timer, even WITH the now dubious distinction of him getting BTA’d (lose in 4 or 5) out of every round of the playoffs in a 10-year span. I’m just putting it into context: how many of the general consensus all-time greats have this type of blemish on their playoff resumé. LeBron isn’t alone; Kobe and especially Shaq are right there with him. We’ll see if there are any others.
I find it interesting you say step aside gracefully and let younger players shine like all of the other superstars. Then immediately say expect for when Jordan did it. Which more or less is basically the whole point of the argument. LeBron is held to a different standard so much so that the things he is criticized for other greats have done but it’s glossed over exactly how you just did. Jordan forced his way on a team that he was the president of basketball operations of and completely disrupted their natural development after years in retirement. But you slide it in the comment and put it in parentheses like it’s a foot note that should barely be counted. Imagine if LeBron retired, took a job in Cleveland’s front office and then 3 years later pulled a Jordan. The media would lose its mind, it would be an all day every hour topic for months with 50-60 analysts competing for who could be the most offended by it.
This is my point about hold everyone to the same standard. You want to hold LeBron to a standard that nobody else before him was held to and act like it’s embarrassing he doesn’t get it.
As for your weird selective stat it’s just exactly that weird. It lacks context and circumstance. By that measure it would have been better for the lakers to have missed the playoffs for the last 2-3 years like Jordan and Kobe did then to make it. That is on its face a ridiculous take that missing the playoffs is somehow better than losing in the second round in 4.
Thanks for a thoughtful note.
Most certainly holding everyone to the same standard. Learning that Kobe made this dubious list has me rethinking his place in the upper echelon; and Shaq making the list only confirms my long-held belief he’s likely not a top 10 and is definitely not the greatest center to ever live. And don’t remember saying Jordan deciding to play for Wizards, as part owner, was a smart move; it most certainly took away from what was going to be a storybook career finish in ‘98. But don’t forget: even though Jordan played 8+ fewer seasons than LeBron, the percentage of times he qualified for playoffs is still higher than LeBron’s (13 of 15 versus 19 of 23) – maybe that’s one reason LeBron is still playing. Since LeBron has played longer than any of the other greats, we then resort to percentages/averages when making comparisons. You bag on Jordan not making playoffs in either of the two years with the lousy Wiz teams when two of LeBron’s playoff misses came with the Lakers – one of them had Lakers among the title favorites (‘22). To reiterate, the whole point of this effort is to show there’s a double-edged sword to LeBron continuing to play into his third decade. You can get the positive info from just about every major media outlet because they lack objectivity and impartiality and are not painting the entire picture for a reason. I’m merely bringing the other side of the story into focus.
See now you’re shifting the goal post though. Originally you proposed LeBron only kept playing because he was selfish and couldn’t gracefully accept that it was his time to let the next generation play. Now you’re switch the conversation to some weird he’s trying to catch Jordan in playoff percent attainment stat that has never been mentioned before. Of course after realizing that almost all of the all time greats Jordan, Kobe, Kareem, Magic (who we have mentioned but returned after being forced to retire 4 season after 91) Shaq, Duncan, Hakeem, all played past when they should have walked away. This is the lunacy with how LeBron is covered he’s 41 in year 23 and still one of conservatively the top 20 players in the league and the conversation that surrounds him is he needs to retire, he needs to take less money, he needs to walk away and let the next generation shine. The difference between him and those other guys is at this stage of his career he’s still really good and they all weren’t (with the caveat that Jordan was still individually decent during his wizards time despite the team never winning more than 37 games). Also I reject the “I’m bagging on Jordan for not making the playoffs on a lousey wizards team” no I’m just telling the facts about how other great players careers actually ended. Again to focus on the argument that you originally made before you tried to change it was he needs to step aside gracefully like the other greats of his stature did when in fact none of them did. I don’t care where you rank LeBron in your all time great list I only care about having actual genuine discourse where the context is accurately relayed. Not some make shift made up stat that has no historical relevance before it was created here to attack LeBron.
“Smacked/BTA’d/embarrassed/stomped/humiliated out of the playoffs” will mean the player’s team lost in 4 or 5 games if a best-of-7 series and 3 or 4 games if a best-of-5 series.
It appears some semblance of a four-round playoffs begin in the NBA during the 1974-75 season; so we’ll start then. This does exclude several players considered among the all-time greats, but so be it.
Let’s begin with MICHAEL JORDAN (fitting, yeah) and KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR…….
MJ………1985: 1-3 (ECFR); 1986: 0-3 (ECFR); 1987: 0-3 (ECFR); 1988: 1-4 (ECSF)…….the only 10-year period to pool from Jordan was the beginning half of his career. The 10-year period, from 1985-94 does NOT include getting smacked out of the conference finals or NBA Finals.
SUMMARY>>>MJ>>>negative
KAJ…….1977: 0-4 (WCF); 1979: 1-4 (WCSF); 1983: 0-4 (Finals); 1986: 1-4 (WCF); 1989: 0-4 (Finals)…..no matter how you slice it (1977-86 or 1983-89), Kareem never got BTA’d out of the first round over the course of his entire 20-year career.
SUMMARY>>>>KAJ>>>>>negative
Stay tuned for the next batch of players generally considered by many to be among the all-time greats. Thanks for being one of the first readers, max jabroni.
One more. This was a bit of a shocker – and it likely doesn’t bode well for Shaq either – but I was curious about Kobe. It turns out he indeed is ALSO credited with the dubious distinction!
KOBE…..1997: 1-4 (WCSF); 1998: 0-4 (WCF); 1999: 0-4 (WCSF); 2004: 1-4 (Finals); 2007: 1-4 (WCFR); 2011: 0-4 (WCSF); 2012: 1-4 (WCSF); 2013: 0-4 (WCFR)…..1998-2007. I forgot Lakers made it to conference finals in ‘98 which, in Kobe’s defense, was still a bench/reserve-player year for him. Still gotta count it though.
SUMMARY>>>>Kobe>>>positive
Let’s go ahead then and check up on Shaq……
SHAQ: 1994: 0-3 (ECFR); 1995: 0-4 (Finals); 1996: 0-4 (ECF); 1997: 1-4 (WCSF); 1998: 0-4 (WCF); 1999: 0-4 (WCSF); 2004: 1-4 (Finals); 2007: 0-4 (ECFR); 2008: 1-4 (WCFR); 2011: 1-4 (ECSF)……..Where do we start when looking at the dark side of Shaq’s playoff career??!! 1994-97 already completes the dubious cycle; not to mention, you have him already switching teams in this span (to his discretion)! Then, 1998-07 takes care of ANOTHER cycle, with him again changing teams at the tail end. To claim Shaq’s career (and place among the all-time greats) might have been overstated/exaggerated/fluffed MORESO than LeBron’s, you’d have a strong case just with THIS info!
SUMMARY>>>>Shaq>>>BIG positive
NOTE: I wanna make a quick mention that, yes, Kareem DID get BTA’d out of the first round of the playoffs – albeit, his rookie year. But again, the timeframe BEFORE the 1974-75 season did not feature the format that we know of today with LeBron James: a first round, a semi-finals round, a conference finals round, and the championship round.
CURRENT TALLY (3 players)
……dubious distinction of being smacked/BTA’d/embarrassed out of every playoff round (while winning no more than one game in elimination series) over a 10-year span
SHAQ (twice!)
Kobe (1 instance)
LeBron (minimum 1: 2017-26)
_____________
Jordan (zero instances)
Kareem (zero)
*LeBron: confirmed, 1 instance
Already, the Lakers plan to compete as holes. They’ve declared they want to get better defensively – while also declaring they want the core to still be LBJ/Luka/AR. All three of those guys are liabilities on D.
Everyone lost their mind when the Lakers acquired Luka (I said from the start it presents a heap of problems), but now the reality has set in – how do they actually win with him? Dallas couldn’t do it, and anyone who watches basketball knows surrounding him with LBJ and AR won’t do it.
It seems as if the they did a lot of winning. From 2018–2025 the Mavs were 271–208 when Luka played
That’s a .566 winning percentage, equivalent to roughly a 46-win pace over an 82-game season.
Dallas made the playoffs 4 times with him and reached the 2022 Western Conference Finals and
2024 NBA Finals
No one’s talking regular season success. But if you want to tout an average of 46 wins a season, to put that into perspective, 46 wins would have been good for the 11th best record this year.
Dallas couldn’t win a championship with Luka. Their fans aren’t celebrating losing the NBA finals.
22 other teams and their respective star players couldn’t win a championship during Luka’s time in Dallas either.
Yep, and most of them would consider that falling short of expectations.
Ask any Lakers fan right now – are they happy? No. They got bounced from the playoffs. The Lakers success is being measured in championships – nothing less.
The main point of my post remains – Luka/LBJ/AR is a core with flaws.
Lakers cannot have LBJ, Luka and AR in 2027. Especially with the salaries they will have to pay for those three. LBJ has to take a salary at about 50 to 60% of what he made this year, then you have AR getting a 20 to 25 mil raise from this year. Even with these three sign they still would have to fill out a roster better than what they had this year. This Laker team was never going to win a title, they are not better than OKC, San Antonio, and even maybe Minnesota. It will be real interesting if they can get a better center and a deeper bench.
The major problem or dilemma is do they take a chance on a 42 yr old James or do they sign AR which one works better with Luka, I say use AR in a sign and trade package for a better big man than I only play when I want to Ayton.
Jebron Lames!