This offseason has been engulfed by a plethora of rumors about LeBron James’ future with the Los Angeles Lakers.
The rumors started flooding in once LeBron James opted into his $52.6m player option with the Los Angeles Lakers for the 2025-26 NBA season.
The 4x NBA champion was criticized for not allowing the Lakers to enter win-now mode due to his hefty salary. Evidently, many trade rumors surrounded the 40-year-old.
Adding to that was a recent Instagram post by Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic’s agent, where he was seen hanging out with James.
Most interpreted the now-deleted post as a subtle hint about James leaving LA next summer and joining forces with the Joker.
However, NBA analyst Nick Wright recently claimed that those rumors have no backing whatsoever.
“I can report unequivocally, the idea that this tweet or caption, Instagram caption, was about LeBron playing on the Denver Nuggets next year… was unequivocally 100 percent false,” Wright said on First Things First.
He added: “There is a zero percent chance LeBron is on the Nuggets a year from now. That’s not my opinion, I know that.”
While a potential James-Jokic duo sounds like a dream pairing, Wright is extremely sure that fans won’t get to see that next season, at least not in Denver.
Assuming James doesn’t join the Nuggets, there are still doubts if the King will return to the Lakers beyond the 2025-26 NBA season.
After all, the Lakers have shifted their focus to Luka Doncic as the 26-year-old is expected to sign a long-term contract extension with the organization soon.
So, what does it mean for LBJ’s future? Well, according to Marc Stein, the Lakers are expected to let James walk next summer.
In the last seven seasons, James has averaged 26.6 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 8.1 assists per game for the team. He also led the Lakers to the 2020 NBA Championship.
