![\"LeBron](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-2212935341-e1756920456762.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto by Harry How\/Getty Images\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers<\/p>\n
Veteran forward LeBron James is reportedly \u201cunlikely\u201d to request a trade from the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> at any point during the 2025-26 season.<\/p>\n According to Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints<\/a>, James prefers to play out his 23rd season with the Lakers regardless of where the team stands at the February trade deadline.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is unlikely that he would request a trade from the Lakers in the middle of the 2025-26 season,\u201d Siegel reported on September 17.<\/p>\n \u201cAll we know about LeBron at this juncture is that he is nearing the end of the line, but still has the same motivation and drive to win as he did earlier in his career. The only difference is that for the first time, he is no longer \u201cThe Guy\u201d on his team, as that title now belongs to Luka Doncic in Los Angeles.\u201d<\/p>\n Siegel added that \u201cthere have been indications\u201d that the 2025-26 season would be James\u2019 last in a Lakers uniform, but definitely not his last in the NBA.<\/p>\n LeBron James to Test Free Agency?<\/p>\n If James does return for a 24th season, he may test the free agency market for the first time since his departure from the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2019. In fact, the 2025-26 season would mark the first time James would be playing an expiring contract through his 23 years in the world\u2019s preeminent basketball league.<\/p>\n The first sign of a potential split between James and the Lakers surfaced when \u201cThe King\u201d opted into his $52 million contract rather than renegotiating a new deal. According to ESPN\u2019s Ramona Shelburne<\/a>, the Lakers never offered James a contract extension, something that Irwin backed in his own reporting.<\/p>\n \u201cThe main question surrounding James and the Lakers entering the year revolves around whether this will be it. This will be his eighth season in Los Angeles, believe it or not, and LeBron is prepared to become a true unrestricted free agent for the first time in a while.<\/p>\n \u201cDespite being older and on the verge of retirement, plenty of teams will still express interest in him should he push the Lakers to the side in free agency next offseason. Then, the question will become whether LeBron would accept less money to play alongside friends on a contender like Dallas or Golden State.\u201d<\/p>\n Record-Breaking Season Awaits<\/p>\n James is set to become the first player in NBA history to play 23 seasons, surpassing the previous record set by Hall of Famer Vince Carter, who retired after 22.<\/p>\n Furthermore, he is set to clinch several more records in the 2025-26 season, including the most field goals and most regular-season games, among others.<\/p>\n \u201cJames is 350 field goals away from Abdul-Jabbar\u2019s record (15,837), and \u201cThe King,\u201d who has made at least 400 field goals every season (651 made in 2024-25), is likely to surpass the Lakers great again,\u201d noted ESPN<\/a>, previewing the milestones James can break in 2025-26.<\/p>\n James, who played over 70 games in each of the last two seasons, will need to play 50 more to surpass Celtics legend Robert Parish for most regular-season games in NBA history. He is also on the brink of passing Reggie Miller for sixth on the all-time 3-point field goal list.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tSai Mohan<\/a> covers the NBA for Heavy.com. Based in Portugal, Sai is a seasoned sports writer with nearly two decades of publishing experience, including bylines at Yardbarker, FanSided’s Hoops Habit, International Business Times, Hindustan Times and more. More about Sai Mohan<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Lakers\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo by Harry How\/Getty Images LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers Veteran forward LeBron James is reportedly \u201cunlikely\u201d to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":151777,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-151776","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151776\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}