{"id":672041,"date":"2026-05-15T21:46:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T21:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/672041\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T21:46:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T21:46:08","slug":"lakers-urged-to-cut-ties-with-lebron-james-for-thunders-87m-perfect-luka-doncic-lob-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/672041\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers urged to cut ties with LeBron James for Thunder’s $87M perfect Luka Doncic lob threat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lakers urged to cut ties with LeBron James for Thunder’s $87M perfect Luka Doncic lob threat<\/a> originally appeared on The Sporting News<\/a>. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> watched their season come to a halt on Monday when the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> swept them. It marked the end of the road for some players, potentially including a few who may have played their final game in Los Angeles<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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One name that could have played his last game in LA \u2014 and possibly the final game of his career \u2014 is LeBron James<\/a>. After the game, he made it clear that he is unsure about his future.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWith my future, I don’t know,” James said after Game 4. “Obviously still fresh from losing. I don’t know. I don’t know what the future holds for me, obviously. As it stands right now tonight, I’ve got a lot of time. I’ll sit back like I think I said last year after we lost to Minnesota<\/a>, I’ll go back and recalibrate with my family and talk with them and spend some time with them. When the time comes, obviously, you guys will know what I decide to do.”<\/p>\n

No matter what James decides, it likely will not happen anytime soon. Many around the league believe he could take some sort of pay cut if he continues playing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is definitely, I think, a prevailing sentiment around the league that LeBron, wherever he goes, would be best served to take a minimum salary contract if he does care ultimately about winning another championship,\u201d Bleacher Report\u2019s Jake Fischer said.<\/a><\/p>\n

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However, there is also some belief that the Lakers should move on entirely. Los Angeles could allow James to walk and pursue a Luka<\/a> Don\u010di\u0107-style big man in Isaiah Hartenstein<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if he does return, the Lakers won\u2019t have nearly as much flexibility this summer, and with Doncic entering his prime, they should want to have as much flexibility as possible,\u201d Lake Show Life\u2019s Jack Simone wrote.<\/a> \u201cFor example, should James choose to leave, the Lakers could potentially have enough money to bring Isaiah Hartenstein on board, whether that be via a trade or free agency.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hartenstein makes plenty of sense for the Lakers because of the energy and consistency he brings every night. He nearly averaged a double-double during the regular season, and Don\u010di\u0107 has yet to play alongside a consistent big man in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

Hartenstein is in the second year of his $87 million contract with the Thunder<\/a>, but there is some belief he could become available because of financial concerns. If the Lakers were able to land him, it would be viewed as a major win-now move for the front office.<\/p>\n

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More NBA news:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lakers urged to cut ties with LeBron James for Thunder’s $87M perfect Luka Doncic lob threat originally appeared…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":672042,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,14417,2327,1522,8231,31975,2598,459,3555,82],"class_list":["post-672041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-isaiah-hartenstein","tag-lebron-james","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-luka","tag-minnesota","tag-nba","tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672041","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=672041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672041\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/672042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=672041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=672041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=672041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}