This season could end up being the end of the LeBron James era for the Los Angeles Lakers. In some ways, that era is already waning, since Luka Doncic has been “the man” for Los Angeles ever since he arrived in that earth-shattering trade in February 2025.
James’ contract will expire at the end of this season, and there have been conflicting reports about whether the Lakers truly want him to stay. But according to sources, Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves want the NBA’s all-time leading career scorer to stay put after this season.
Via Lakers Daily:
“The Lakers, sources told Lakers Daily, are ready to move on from the James era and build around Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves,” wrote Ashish Mathur. “However, if James doesn’t retire this offseason, he could still return to Los Angeles since Doncic and Reaves want him back, sources said.
“Despite James, Doncic and Reaves struggling to co-exist as a ‘Big 3’ this season, the three players maintain a strong relationship, with one source saying that Doncic ‘wants to make things work with James’ and enjoys playing with the future Hall of Famer.”
Economics alone could result in James departing the Lakers, as they’re projected to have roughly $50 million of salary cap space but have multiple roster needs and are expected to try to trade for Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo. But it looks like the franchise hasn’t shut the door on James sticking around for at least one more season.
“Doncic and Reaves are expected to be in James’ ear as well about coming back to the Lakers, sources said, despite Los Angeles president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka and governor Jeanie Buss being ready to part ways with arguably the greatest player of all time, sources said. If Doncic and Reaves want James back, Buss and Pelinka would welcome James back since they want to appease their future franchise players, sources said.”
This is James’ eighth season with the Lakers, and while they won the NBA championship in 2020, many consider his tenure with the team to be a disappointment, especially considering he has had one other legitimate superstar by his side for seven of those seasons. The team has missed the playoffs twice with him, and, other than in 2020, has gotten past the first round only once.
L.A. is currently 36-24 and in sixth place in the Western Conference. James is averaging 21.6 points on 49.9% field-goal shooting, 5.6 rebounds and seven assists a game so far this season.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Report: Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves want LeBron to stay with Lakers
Reporting by Robert Marvi, LeBron Wire / LeBron Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
