{"id":664373,"date":"2026-05-12T11:59:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T11:59:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/664373\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T11:59:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T11:59:23","slug":"is-lebron-james-retiring-after-23rd-nba-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/664373\/","title":{"rendered":"Is LeBron James Retiring After 23rd NBA Season?"},"content":{"rendered":"

LeBron James<\/a> played the final game of his 23rd NBA<\/a> season on Monday night, hoping to help the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> avoid a second-round sweep by the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a>. James left it all on the floor, finishing with 24 points, 12 rebounds and three assists in 40 minutes. But his effort was not enough as the Lakers fell 110-115 to the defending champions in Los Angeles<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The final buzzer at Crypto.com Arena brought with it a familiar question that has followed the league\u2019s all-time leading scorer in recent years: did the world just witness James play his last game in the NBA?<\/p>\n

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James himself has been deliberately measured when discussing his future in the NBA, consistently refusing to commit to a timeline.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I know, you guys will know. I don\u2019t know. I have no idea,\u201d James said during All-Star Weekend<\/a> in February. \u201cI just want to live. That\u2019s all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether that decision has already been made privately remains unclear, but reporting from ESPN\u2019s Brian Windhorst suggests there is genuine uncertainty from James\u2019 camp.<\/p>\n

\u201cBased on my conversations, I honestly think they don\u2019t know,\u201d Windhorst said on the \u201cHoop Collective podcast<\/a>\u201d in September. \u201cAs far as I know, he\u2019s honestly going year to year. Could this be his last year? Yes. Will it be his last year? I don\u2019t know. Does he know right now? Maybe. But my interpretation is that it has not been established. He will see where he\u2019s at at the end of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Los<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23)Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Is LeBron James Leaving the Lakers?<\/p>\n

Despite the retirement chatter, what has somewhat become clear is that retirement is not James\u2019 primary intention right now. Hours before Monday\u2019s tipoff, ESPN\u2019s Dave McMenamin reported that the understanding around the league is that James will play another season in the NBA, but the question is simply where.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say all the clues, basically from the All-Star game and onward, is that he will continue to play NBA basketball but will it be in Los Angeles?\u2026 There\u2019s five or six teams you could viably see him going to next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

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James picked up his $52.6 million player option to remain in purple and gold through the 2025-26 season. But with no contract in place for next season, the four-time league MVP is set to test the free agent market for the fourth time in his career.<\/p>\n

More on LeBron James and Los Angeles Lakers:<\/p>\n

If James decides to continue playing, staying in Los Angeles remains a strong possibility. Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka has repeatedly expressed his desire to see the 22-time All-Star retire with the franchise (h\/t Fox Sports\u2019 Rachel Nichols<\/a>).<\/p>\n

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But McMenamin noted that the Lakers, coming off a sweep, face real work to convince James to return.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Lakers\u2026 will have to convince LeBron, I would say on some level, that we have a plan in place here for you to come back and compete for a championship\u2026 At this stage of his career that is the number one thing that has been guiding his decisions: being able to compete for a championship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even if the Lakers manage to win James over in free agency, a realistic path to his return would involve a significant pay cut from his 2025-26 salary. Luka Doncic<\/a>\u2019s three-year, $165 million deal<\/a> kicks in next season, while Austin Reaves<\/a> is expected to decline his $14.5 million player option and demand more money in free agency.<\/p>\n

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If the Lakers intend to keep Reaves, he will likely command up to $40 million next season, which could ultimately complicate negotiations with James if he expects to be paid more. But even if James is willing to take a discount in year 24, Los Angeles could have external competition to retain his services.<\/p>\n

Another option on the table involves exploring a move to another team, including the Golden State Warriors<\/a> and Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a>, who have been linked<\/a> to James in recent months.<\/p>\n

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\u201cJames has a history with the two\u00a0Golden State Warriors\u00a0leaders: guard\u00a0Stephen Curry<\/a>\u00a0and coach Steve Kerr, whom James faced in four straight NBA Finals from 2015 to 2018,\u201d ESPN reported in March.<\/p>\n

As for a return to Cleveland, ESPN<\/a> reported in January, \u201cMultiple team and league sources told ESPN the Cavaliers would gladly welcome James back this summer if he wanted to return to Cleveland for his 24th NBA season and third stint with the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

At 41 years old, James averaged 20.9 points, 7.2 assists and 6.1 rebounds in 60 games this season, proving he can still contribute meaningfully on a contender team.<\/p>\n

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James\u2019 decision, whatever it is, will undoubtedly be one of the biggest talking points during the offseason. He has earned the right to take his time before choosing which way to go, and the NBA world will be waiting on his final verdict.\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b<\/p>\n

Related: Lakers Facing Backlash for Austin Reaves Decision Amid NBA Playoffs<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Athlon Sports<\/a> on May 12, 2026, where it first appeared in the NBA<\/a> section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LeBron James played the final game of his 23rd NBA season on Monday night, hoping to help the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":664374,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[45842,55184,49,48,2357,8217,2327,1522,8231,12887,459,3555,82,13596],"class_list":["post-664373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-austin-reaves","tag-brian-windhorst","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cleveland-cavaliers","tag-golden-state-warriors","tag-lebron-james","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-luka-doncic","tag-nba","tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","tag-sports","tag-stephen-curry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=664373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664373\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/664374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=664373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=664373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=664373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}