LeBron James is not retiring. The NBA’s all-time leading scorer will play in the 2026-2027 NBA season, but it won’t be for the Los Angeles Lakers according to ESPN’s Shams Charania. James has reportedly told the team they can move on because that’s what he plans to do.
NBA free agency begins on Tuesday at 6pm ET and James has at least one high-profile suitor in the Golden State Warriors. With Draymond Green opting out of the final year of his deal the team now has the financial flexibility to sign James and there have been rumors that he would want the team to trade for Anthony Davis which would create one of the more intriguing lineups in league history. It is unclear exactly how interested the Warriors are in this plan, but we could find out in the next few hours.
LeBron in LA
James signed with the Lakers in 2018 and played eight seasons in Los Angeles. During that time the team made the playoffs eight times and won the 2020 NBA championship with James being named Finals MVP.
James became the NBA’s all-time leading scorer while wearing a Lakers jersey and scored 12,402 of his 43,440 career points as a Laker. He averaged 25.9 points, 7.7 rebounds and 7.9 assists in 479 games with the Lakers.
He also pulled off one of the rarest feats in sports history when he and his son Bronny James became the first father-son duo to share the court in the NBA. It seems that the younger James will remain in LA for now as his contract became guaranteed on Monday.
