The Los Angeles Lakers are viewing LeBron James as an expiring contract as they build around Luka Doncic for the future. James opted into his $52.6 million player option Sunday, but agent Rich Paul's accompanying statement raised questions about his Lakers future.
ESPN's Brian Windhorst reported Wednesday on First Take that the Lakers did not pursue substantive contract extension discussions with James. This marks the first time in James' 23-year career that he has entered the final year of a contract. Windhorst initially dismissed trade speculation but acknowledged shifting his position after recent conversations. The veteran reporter emphasized James has never been in this contract situation throughout his nine NBA contracts across multiple teams.
Because of how the Lakers are now perceiving James' future with the team, the possibility of a trade scenario becomes less far-fetched than it did on Wednesday. Because James is on such a large contract and any trade would be complicated to execute, there would need to be significant motivation on the part of James, the Lakers and any team interested in acquiring him.
"On Sunday when Rich Paul made these comments when it was announced via Shams about opting into his contract, obviously those comments could be taken a lot of different ways. They were nebulous, almost by design," said Brian Windhorst on First Take on Wednesday.
"When the idea of a trade came up, I slammed the door on it. First off, LeBron wants to be a Laker. If he didn't want to be a Laker, he could have opted out. He has a no-trade clause. Over the last three days, I have unlocked the door. I wouldn't say that I am opening the door. I would just say I'm unlocking the door. The door I slammed and locked on Sunday, I'm not 100 percent sure.
"That is because my conversations over the last three days have crystalized that the Lakers are essentially viewing LeBron as an expiring contract. And that may sound like a toss off statement, but that's not insignificant. LeBron has never been an expiring contract. Quite literally. Never in his 23-year career, over the nine contracts he has signed, over all the different teams he has been on—he has never been on the last year of his contract. He has never been 40 years old. He has never not been the franchise player on his team.
"The Lakers and LeBron—whoever wants to spin their side of the story—I'm not sure what happened. But the Lakers and LeBron did not have substantive discussions about extending his contract, which every team that LeBron has been on for 20-something years has wanted to have substantive discussions about extending his contract.
"What happens to expiring contracts in the NBA? They are viewed as trade pieces. For all those reasons—the money, the fact that LeBron and Luka are still a very formidable duo. The fact that the Lakers are not done with their offseason. The fact that trading him is crazy. The fact that this is being built around Luka and they have to maintain their cap sheet and all of those things. Everything in that makes sense. I'm just unlocking the door because I'm not as convinced as before of it's impossibility."
James enters the 2025-26 season at age 40 without franchise player status for the first time. The Lakers' focus has shifted to building around Doncic following his February trade acquisition from the Dallas Mavericks. Doncic becomes eligible for a contract extension with the Lakers on August 2nd, which is the most critical part of their offseason.
