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LeBron James Makes Decision on NBA Future
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LeBron James is not done yet.
The 41-year-old superstar has decided to play another season in the NBA, extending his run to a 24th campaign, a league record. However, he will not suit up for the Lakers next year. ESPN’s Shams Charania reported on Tuesday ahead of free agency’s official opening that James had informed Los Angeles he would play elsewhere.
BREAKING: LeBron James will continue his NBA career for the 2026-27 season and has informed the Los Angeles Lakers that the franchise can move on without him because he will play elsewhere, Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul tells ESPN. pic.twitter.com/zzVk6xUVF1
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 30, 2026
During the 2025–26 season, James averaged 20.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, 7.2 assists and 1.2 steals in 33.2 minutes over the course of 60 games. He dialed things up in the playoffs, as he bumped his averages to 23.2 points, 6.3 rebounds, 7.3 assists and 1.3 steals per game. L.A. was bounced from the playoffs in the second round after being swept by the Thunder.
It’s not clear where James will decide to play next season. There are plenty of options open to him, including a third tour of duty with the Cavaliers. But the most recent reports have linked The King to Golden State, where the Warriors are very interested in pairing James with Steph Curry as they did on Team USA at the 2024 Olympics. Draymond Green declined his player option for the upcoming season to try to make this reality.
A convincing case can be made that James is the greatest player of all time, and the fact that he’s still an impactful player at his age is remarkable.
LeBron James career trajectory
Cleveland made James the No. 1 pick in the 2003 NBA draft, and he played with the franchise through the 2009-10 season. The Cavs reached the NBA Finals in 2007, where they were swept by the Spurs. He left the franchise in 2010 after repeated postseason failures.
Entering the 2026–27 season, James is the NBA’s all-time leader in more than a dozen regular-season categories and owns nearly every individual postseason record.
He opted to team up with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami with the Heat. They lost to the Mavericks in the NBA Finals in 2011, but proceeded to win back-to-back titles in 2012 and ‘13, before losing to the Spurs in ‘14.
After that defeat, James returned to Cleveland for four years. In his first season back, Cleveland lost to the Warriors in the NBA Finals, but in 2015, James led his team back from down 3–1 to beat Golden State in seven games for the franchise’s first NBA title. The Cavs fell to the Warriors in the 2017 and ‘18 NBA Finals before James decided to move on.
He signed with the Lakers in the summer of 2018 and has been with the franchise since. After missing the postseason in 2019, L.A. won an NBA title in 2020. Playoff success has been fleeting since.
LeBron James career stats
Among his many records, James tops the regular record books in points (43,440), games (1,622), minutes (61,030) and field goals made (15,961), while he’s sixth in three-pointers (2,636), fourth in assists (12,061), sixth in steals (2,417), and 24th in rebounds (12,095).
With another solid season, he could jump into the top 20 in rebounds and should pass Jason Kidd (12,091) for third on the assists list, while he could threaten Chris Paul for the No. 2 spot (12,552).
James also has the highest value over replacement player in NBA history (156.61); he’s first in career box plus/minus (8.53) and is the only player in NBA history with at least 40,000 points, 11,500 rebounds and 11,500 assists.
He has four NBA MVP awards and has been an All-Star 22 times, while being named All-NBA first team a record 13 times, along with four second team selections and three third-team nods.
All of those records are great, but what James really wants is another NBA title. He has four to his name and has been named NBA Finals MVP alongside each of those victories. His last title came in 2020 with the Lakers in the NBA's COVID-19 bubble.
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Ryan Phillips is a senior writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has worked in digital media since 2009, spending eight years at The Big Lead before joining SI in 2024. Phillips also co-hosts The Assembly Call Podcast about Indiana Hoosiers basketball and previously worked at Bleacher Report. He is a proud San Diego native and a graduate of Indiana University’s journalism program.
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