The Los Angeles Lakers may have erred in moving on from LeBron James based on recent work from league insider Marc Stein.
Stein predicted on Tuesday, August 4 that there is a strong chance James might not just play in the upcoming campaign for the Philadelphia 76ers, but will stretch his career out through 2027-28 to render it an even quarter century (25 years) in length.
“I wrote that I expected the 2025-26 season to be LeBron’s last as a Laker (true) … and then added that the prospect of LeBron playing 25 seasons ‘is a legit possibility on the board,'” Stein wrote. “Now even James, one year later, is saying as much.”
“One suspects that James understands better than anyone, given his considerable basketball IQ, that the Sixers could well need more than one season to get such a high-usage five-some (Tyrese Maxey, Jaylen Brown, VJ Edgecombe, Joel Embiid and now LeBron) functioning at peak capacity,” Stein continued. “Maybe two more seasons for LeBron, who turns 42 in December, is realistically in play now.”
Lakers Probably Made Mistake Letting LeBron James Walk if They Could Have Signed Him to Same Deal as 76ers
GettyLeBron James formerly of the Los Angeles Lakers.
So why does that matter for the rebuilt Lakers?
It matters, only theoretically at this point, because if the Lakers could have inked James to the same two-year, $8 million contract he signed in Philadelphia then Los Angeles would unquestionably be a better team today than it currently is.
James averaged 20.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 7.2 assists last season in L.A. in an All-Star campaign (his 22nd in 23 seasons) and led the team without Luka Doncic, and mostly absent Austin Reaves, to a first-round playoff series victory over the Houston Rockets.
That is a player worth having on the roster in any capacity, particularly at a veteran’s league-minimum salary.
Yes, James is old. Yes, his defense is suspect. And yes, he isn’t as dominant as he once was. But the four-time NBA champion and four-time MVP was still the third-best player on the Lakers’ roster in 2025-26 — at worst.
James’ primary ball-handling and playmaking skills were also crucial during the extended absences of Doncic and Reaves, which may be recurring themes in the seasons to come based on past evidence.
Lakers May Have Needed to Part Ways With LeBron James for Reasons Besides Money
GettyFormer Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James (23) with ex-teammates Luka Doncic (77) and Austin Reaves (15).
It is fair and potentially contextually accurate to argue that the bigger issue might have been the team’s readiness to move on from James, and all the attention he draws, as a focal point of the franchise, which now clearly belongs to Doncic with Reaves riding shotgun.
It’s also more than fair to note that the Lakers could have paid James much more than most teams given his extension eligibility and their salary cap space this summer. And because of everything he did for the team over eight years, James might never have been willing to play for roughly $4 million per season over two more campaigns.
That said, he reportedly turned down approximately $20 million from the Los Angeles Clippers and $15.1 million from the Golden State Warriors (full midlevel exception) to play with a more likely winner in Philly out East.
Could the Lakers have convinced James that they have a legitimate shot to compete for a title in a top-heavy West over the next two years? Maybe, with a core of Doncic, Reaves and Walker Kessler. And could they have convinced him to stick around for two years on a league-minimum deal had the front office handled his free agency a different way? Who knows.
One thing we will never know now is how competitive this new version of the Lakers — who are essentially paying Kevon Looney and Matisse Thybulle the equivalent of James’ salary in 2026-27 — might have been if they could have kept James instead.
Latest LeBron James Prediction Indicates Lakers Made Mistake Letting Him Go