LeBron James Discussion: Not Returning To The Lakers

lol, that team is probably better than our current one (pj starts over rui, btw).

but it ain’t happening.

 

I would do that in 1 second flat. Periot!

 

LeBron James' former teammate explains why it 'sucks' playing with him

https://www.aol.com/lebron-james-fo...PE1kG6yLD_tyeXkOR6U-bK5T5-hOkN0b-nY-aCc0ItiQ_

 

LOL haters baited and switched upon ….

 

AOL in 2025 lol

 

Hell AOL in 2000!! I was working under Time Warner with Warner Bros Records at the time of that f****** "ill fated" merger where AOL took control. We were already running company wide on a clearly superior system but they created this mess for a year or more where everything had to be switched to AOL's inferior system and drove our IT folks crazy.

 

Richard Jefferson is so funny - it's too bad sarcasm doesn't translate well on a lot of the modern internet like twitter.

 

All of that sounds reasonable, and Cleveland, Dallas, and New York make sense as destinations. But like those tweets/articles say, he would have to take less, possibly even vet min, to go to most of those.

I really believe he wants to stay in LA, and not move his family, but is butthurt that the Lakers aren't prioritizing him anymore, even if he understands. Hence the passive aggressive stuff.

I'm not sure what the Lakers 2026 plan is, if Giannis or Jokic aren't available via trade (if they demanded out 1 year early). If that doesn't happen, then what other stars are available? I'm guessing the Lakers keep their powder dry for 1 more year and take a crack again in 2027 when they're truly FA's (assuming they don't sign extensions in 2026).

If so, then who do the Lakers sign in 2026 on 1 year contracts? If he's 90% or even 80% of what he has been, it would still make sense for both parties to sign LeBron for 1 more year. The question is, how much of a discount would LeBron take? It wouldn't even be a discount, actually, as any other contender would need to sign him for less, and he's not gonna go somewhere random that can't contend, even if they pay him more.

So my guess is that there is a lot of ink spilled over all the drama this next year, but at the end of the day, if the Lakers can't get another superstar, we get LeBron for 1 more year 2026-2027 and he does his farewell tour then.

 

lebron's going to play 25-26 with the lakers

what he does after that is anyone's guess, but we'll all know if its retirement because there's no way he goes out without a farewell tour

 

maybe no one. i think the "plan" was just not to be under lebron's thumb anymore. if he walks, we're in a unique position to gather assets via renting cap space in a worst case scenario, though i think that's unlikely.

 

Meh..Lebron James will be 41 years old this season, for some reason that fact, keeps going over some people's head. The media guys keep talking about him, like he's 35 or something. I get it though, just mentioning his name, still generates a ton of clicks.

 

False. Everyone knows how old he is. There's no indication that he's retiring at the end of this season. There are indications that he will play at least 1 more season after this one.

 

I think he plays another season next year - most likely with us. A lot has to do with how we do this year, if we are blessed with some health, I think we’re in the conference finals against one of Denver, OKC or Houston. At that point, it’s anyone’s guess who wins.

 

Point being?

 

Possible. My post was referring to the "LeBron is still trying to run everything " narrative.

 

Which is laughable but you still aren't getting the joke. The dude is going to be 41 years old this season. Some of you guys are running with the red herring here. He's about to be 41! His influence is SUPPOSED to be over. Respect no, influence..um yeah? Lol..why is that supposed to be some grand shocking revelation? Who in the hell, is making decisions based off of, what the 40 year old dude, is talking about? As long as he's still playing at an All NBA level, I'm sure they are going to want him on the team. The other part of the story is just clickbait.

 

LeBron has an ego. He's not retiring without a farewell tour and it'll probably be the biggest one in any sport for a player.

IMO, the only way he stays with the Lakers is if they win a title. The issue with having LeBron on your team during his retirement year is balancing championship odds versus focusing on LeBron's retirement.

It's a tricky situation. When Kobe retired, the Lakers basically ceased the entire season to making sure Kobe retired gracefully because they knew they had no chance. Lakers can't offer LeBron that... they can win right now with Luka.

I feel LeBron could still compete and make a huge impact on a title contending team... will be interesting to see how he handles his retirement.

 

Depends on his body. I don't think he likes losing so many seasons to injury now after all the work he puts in

Last year he looked great and then the groin happened and he just wasnt the same. Lot of people don't like Lebron but he clearly doesn't like not being able to play well