LeBron James is keeping his NBA career alive for at least one more season, but his next stop won’t be in Los Angeles.
The 41-year-old has decided to play in the 2026-27 season, which would make it a 24th campaign and set a league record. ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Tuesday, just before free agency officially opened, that James had told the Lakers he would be playing elsewhere. Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul said, “BREAKING: LeBron James will continue his NBA career for the 2026-27 season and has informed the Los Angeles Lakers that the franchise can move on without him because he will play elsewhere, Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul tells ESPN. pic.twitter.com/zzVk6xUVF1”
What comes next is still up in the air. James has options, and one of the most talked-about possibilities is a third stint with Cleveland.
Another recent link has pointed him toward Golden State, where the Warriors are reportedly eager to put him alongside Steph Curry after the two played together on Team USA at the 2024 Olympics. Draymond Green has already declined his player option for the coming season in an effort to help make that happen.
James is coming off another productive year. In the 2025-26 regular season, he averaged 20.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, 7.2 assists and 1.2 steals in 33.2 minutes across 60 games.
He turned it up in the playoffs, posting 23.2 points, 6.3 rebounds, 7.3 assists and 1.3 steals per game. The Lakers were eliminated in the second round after being swept by the Thunder.
No matter where he lands, James will enter that next season with a mountain of history behind him. Cleveland took him with the No. 1 pick in the 2003 NBA draft, and he spent his first run there through the 2009-10 season. The Cavaliers reached the NBA Finals in 2007 and were swept by the Spurs, and James left after repeated postseason disappointments.
He then joined Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami, where the Heat lost to the Mavericks in the 2011 NBA Finals before winning back-to-back championships in 2012 and 2013. Miami fell to the Spurs in 2014, and after that loss James went back to Cleveland for four seasons.
That second Cleveland stretch brought another Finals loss to Golden State in his first season back, but in 2015 James helped deliver the franchise’s first NBA title by rallying from down 3-1 to beat the Warriors in seven games. The Cavs then lost to Golden State in the 2017 and 2018 NBA Finals before James moved on again.
He signed with the Lakers in the summer of 2018 and has stayed there since. After missing the postseason in 2019, Los Angeles won the 2020 NBA title, though playoff success has been limited since then.
The numbers behind his career remain staggering. James leads the regular-season record book in points with 43,440, games with 1,622, minutes with 61,030 and field goals made with 15,961. He also ranks sixth in three-pointers made with 2,636, fourth in assists with 12,061, sixth in steals with 2,417 and 24th in rebounds with 12,095.
With another solid season, he could move into the top 20 in rebounds, pass Jason Kidd for third on the assists list and even threaten Chris Paul for second. He also owns the highest value over replacement player in NBA history at 156.61, sits first in career box plus/minus at 8.53 and is the only player in league history with at least 40,000 points, 11,500 rebounds and 11,500 assists.
James has won four MVP awards, made 22 All-Star teams and been named All-NBA first team a record 13 times, along with four second-team selections and three third-team nods. And for all of that, the prize he still chases is another championship.
He has four rings, and he was named Finals MVP each time. His last title came with the Lakers in the NBA’s COVID-19 bubble in 2020.
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