The Los Angeles Lakers have had a busy offseason as they have revamped the roster around Luka Dončić. While they lost Dorian Finney-Smith to the Houston Rockets in free agency, they have added Marcus Smart, Deandre Ayton and Jake LaRavia.
Additionally, they re-signed Jaxson Hayes and LeBron James picked up his $52.6 million player option. The moves were enough to satisfy Dončić as the superstar agreed to a three-year, $165 million contract extension as soon as he was able to.
It is unclear, however, if their roster upgrades were enough to appease James as his future with the franchise has been a topic of discussion all offseason. Dave McMenamin of ESPN recently suggested that the four-time MVP could still have plans to leave Los Angeles.
“I’m told that the statement that Rich Paul gave to Shams Charania back in June when LeBron opted in still stands,” ESPN’s Dave McMenamin stated Monday. “That LeBron and his representatives will be monitoring the Lakers’ moves that they make because they recognize that there’s only a very limited amount of time left in his career and he wants to be competing for championships. Whatever time that is.”
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James was noticeably absent as Dončić signed his extension in front of much of the Lakers roster. He also has opted to use the Honey Training Center — which is the former training facility of the Los Angeles Clippers and now used by Klutch Sports — for his offseason workouts.
The NBA’s all-time leading scorer has yet to ask for a trade and, even if he does ask out, a deal remains highly unlikely. James is set to enter free agency after the 2025-26 season and has not given any indication as to whether his record 23rd season will be his last.
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