Veteran forward LeBron James has until June 29 to exercise his $52.7 million player option for the 2025-26 season. Although most analysts expect James to opt out and sign a new deal, there is growing uncertainty about his unwillingness to take a pay cut to help the Lakers build a championship-level roster.
Amid the uncertainty, Shannon Sharpe, a close friend of the Lakers superstar, has shut down rumors of James departing for the Cavaliers to close out his career.
“No, I don’t see it,” Sharpe said on the May 10 episode of his “Nightcap” podcast. “He loves everything about L.A. Savannah [his wife] loves everything about LA. I don’t believe he goes back [to Cleveland]. Go back and do what? You play with Luka.”
“I think really loves the Lakers,” Sharpe continued. “I really think he loves living in L.A. I think he loves all things L.A. The weather is nice year-round. He don’t really have to have an overcoat.”
Stars Rarely Leave the Lakers
Sharpe then argued that only Shaquille O’Neal was historically a top-tier star who departed from the Lakers.
“You know you can have a top down damn near year-round,” James said of remaining in Los Angeles. “You got water, you got beaches. I mean everything. His businesses are in L.A. There’s really nothing for him not to like about L.A.”
“Shaq is really the only one I can remember that came here and left. Kareem [Abdul-Jabba] didn’t leave. Wilt [Chamberlain] didn’t leave. Kobe [Bryant] didn’t leave. Magic [Johnson] didn’t leave.”
It can’t be denied that James, 40, is still a top-15 player in the NBA. In the 2024-25 season, he averaged 24.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 8.2 assists at 51/38/78 shooting splits, becoming the first player to tally such numbers in their 22nd NBA season.
Should the Lakers Want Him Back?
While James can exercise his player option to return to the Lakers, some analysts and former players have urged the franchise to part ways with LeBron James.
Celtics legend Paul Pierce believes the Lakers will not be able to hand the keys of the franchise to Luka Doncic until James departs.
“If the Lakers want to get back to a championship contender moving forward, you have to get out of the constraints of the LeBron James era,” Pierce said on FS1’s Speak on May 1, via Awful Announcing.
“He’s had a grasp of the whole organization, bear-hugging them, for so long now. He’s done some wonderful things for the Lakers organization. They’re probably gonna build a statue of LeBron. But I’m just saying, they have to say, ‘Bron, we appreciate your services, I think we should move on.’ It’s time for the Luka era now, ’cause I don’t know if you can play them together moving forward. You have to have a certain kind of team around Luka to win. And him with LeBron, you won’t be able to create that.”
Actor and sports personality Michael Rapoport made a similar argument about James.
“I think he sucks the joy out of that team,” Rapoport said of James. “It would be in their best interest, unless they’re able to get some other pieces, to let him go or move on from him. T
LeBron James Leaving Lakers? A Close Friend Weighs In