LeBron James ends Lakers tenure, and Warriors move could be next in free agency

LeBron James will not be returning to the Los Angeles Lakers, his agent, Rich Paul, told ESPN on Tuesday. James will be a free agent at 6 p.m. ET on Tuesday, and has told the Lakers he intends to sign elsewhere after spending the last eight seasons in L.A. James led the Lakers to the 2020 NBA title in the league’s Orlando bubble and became the NBA’s all-time leading scorer while wearing a Lakers uniform in 2023. Paul also confirmed to ESPN that James will return to play in 2026-27 for an NBA record 24th season in the league.

The Warriors, who have been linked to James for the last few days, appear to be the frontrunners for the 41-year-old’s services in the 2026-27 season.  The Warriors are reportedly trying to land James in free agency and Anthony Davis in a trade and reunite the title-winning teammates with Stephen Curry and Draymond Green in Golden State. Chris Haynes also reports that the Cavaliers are interested in bringing James back for a third stint in Cleveland.

“LeBron James is one of the greatest athletes in history,” Lakers president Jeanie Buss said in a statement. “We will always be thankful for his eight years with the Lakers — including the title he led us to in 2020 under the toughest imaginable circumstances and the countless records he broke in purple and gold. We wish him all the best in the future, both on the court and off. He will always be a cherished part of the Lakers family.”

James, who led the Lakers to the 2020 NBA title, was technically an unrestricted free agent in 2024, but this is the first offseason that he will change teams since he joined the Lakers in 2018. When James picked up his player option last offseason, he released a statement that indicated he was not fully satisfied with how the Lakers were operating.

“LeBron wants to compete for a championship,” his agent, Rich Paul, told ESPN at the time. “He knows the Lakers are building for the future. He understands that, but he values a realistic chance of winning it all. We are very appreciative of the partnership that we’ve had for eight years with Jeanie (Buss) and Rob (Pelinka) and consider the Lakers as a critical part of his career.”

LeBron’s numbers by team

The Lakers acquired Luka Dončić at the 2025 trade deadline, a stunning blockbuster that forced them to reconsider the timeline that they prioritized in building their roster. Dončić and Austin Reaves were suddenly the priorities, pushing James down the organizational pecking order. When he returned from a bout with sciatica early in the season, he was, for the first time in his career, the No. 3 option for his team offensively.

Yet James made the most of it. He settled in and thrived in his new role, and the Lakers ultimately went 15-2 in March with the James-Dončić-Reaves trio on a heater. Any championship hopes the Lakers might have harbored were ultimately dashed when Dončić and Reaves suffered a pair of late-season injuries that kept the former out for the whole postseason and the latter out for part of it. James still led the Lakers to a first-round upset over the Houston Rockets, but they were swept in the second round by the Oklahoma City Thunder.

James now becomes an unusual free agent. He is coming off a near-max contact, and he is arguably the greatest player in NBA history. He isn’t nearly that valuable anymore, but he remains a very high-level player capable of leading a team through a first-round series and probably supporting a better one deeper into the playoffs. Someone of his stature would surely expect a pretty hefty salary, but cap space is minimal on this market.