The Cleveland Cavaliers are hosting the Los Angeles Lakers Wednesday night. And the Cavs would welcome LeBron James back this summer, too, if he wanted to join the team for his 24th NBA season, according to an ESPN report that came out hours before tip-off.
Playing in his league-record 23rd season, James is in a contract year with the Lakers. James, now 41, picked up his $52.6 million player option last June, but then news broke that L.A. didn’t offer the four-time league MVP and four-time NBA champion an extension, and that James was not given a heads-up about the sale of the Lakers from the Buss family to Mark Walter, whereas new franchise centerpiece Luka Dončić was reportedly clued in about the transaction.
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In September, though, Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka doubled down on his Aug. 2 comments, reaffirming that he’d «love if LeBron’s story would be to retire as a Laker.»
James missed the first 14 games of the season with sciatica, a pain that travels along the sciatic nerve, which runs from the lower back, through the glute and down the leg.
He returned to the court on Nov. 19 and has played in 28 games so far. James has started in every game he’s played this season, and he’s currently averaging 22.4 points per contest — his fewest since his rookie season with the Cavaliers in 2003-04 — along with 6.7 assists and 6 rebounds in 33.4 minutes per outing.
James finished eighth in All-Star voting earlier this month. As a result, he won’t be a starter in the midseason exhibition for the first time in 22 years. James, a 21-time All-Star, could still be picked as a reserve for the All-Star Game, but that will be up to NBA head coaches up on Feb. 1.
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A bit more than midway through the regular season, James’ eighth with the Lakers, L.A. is 28-17 and fifth in the Western Conference standings.
James is amid the longest uninterrupted stay with a team in his NBA career. But his contract is set to expire at the end of the season, and the 26-year-old Dončić has become the focal point of a franchise James helped return to the mountain top with an NBA championship during the 2020 campaign.
If James doesn’t retire and decides to take his talents back to Cleveland for the 2026-27 season, he’ll embark on his third stint with the Cavaliers, who famously selected the Akron native out of St. Vincent–St. Mary High School with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2003 draft.
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James played for the Cavs from 2003-10 and then, after winning two NBA titles with the Miami Heat as part of their «Big 3,» again from 2014-18. In his return, he delivered Cleveland its first-ever NBA championship in historic fashion, guiding the Cavaliers back from a 3-1 Finals deficit against a record-setting 73-win Golden State Warriors team.
For now, James is reportedly committed to the Lakers.
James stopped drinking alcohol during his rehab from sciatica and has dropped weight in attempt to alleviate back and joint pressure and stay fresh alongside his younger teammates, as reported by ESPN on Wednesday.
