LeBron James is running it back for at least one more season - just not in a Lakers uniform.
The 41-year-old superstar has decided to continue his NBA career into the 2026-27 season, which would make it a record-setting 24th campaign. But ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Tuesday, just before free agency officially opened, that James has told Los Angeles he’ll be playing elsewhere next year.
That leaves the league’s next LeBron watch wide open. A third stint with Cleveland is on the table, and the latest buzz has pointed to Golden State, where the Warriors are said to be very interested in pairing him with Steph Curry after the two played together on Team USA at the 2024 Olympics. Draymond Green has already declined his player option for the upcoming season in an effort to help make that happen.
Even with the uncertainty around his next stop, James keeps stacking numbers that belong in a museum. During the 2025-26 regular season, he put up 20.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, 7.2 assists and 1.2 steals across 60 games, averaging 33.2 minutes. In the playoffs, he turned it up again, posting 23.2 points, 6.3 rebounds, 7.3 assists and 1.3 steals per game before the Lakers were swept by the Thunder in the second round.
Wherever he lands next, James will enter the 2026-27 season sitting atop or near the top of the NBA record book in just about every direction you can look. He is the league’s all-time leader in points (43,440), games (1,622), minutes (61,030) and field goals made (15,961). He’s also sixth in three-pointers (2,636), fourth in assists (12,061), sixth in steals (2,417) and 24th in rebounds (12,095).
And there’s still room for the numbers to move. With another solid season, James could climb into the top 20 in rebounds, pass Jason Kidd (12,091) for third on the all-time assists list, and even threaten Chris Paul for the No. 2 spot (12,552).
The resume keeps getting stranger in the best possible way. James owns the highest value over replacement player in NBA history (156.61), leads the league’s career box plus/minus list (8.53), and is the only player ever to reach 40,000 points, 11,500 rebounds and 11,500 assists.
His path to this point has stretched across eras and franchises. Cleveland made him the No. 1 pick in the 2003 NBA draft, and he stayed there through the 2009-10 season. The Cavaliers reached the Finals in 2007 and were swept by the Spurs, and James left in 2010 after repeated postseason failures.
He joined Miami next, teaming up with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. The Heat lost the 2011 Finals to the Mavericks, then won back-to-back titles in 2012 and ’13 before falling to the Spurs in ’14.
After that, he returned to Cleveland for four years. The Cavaliers lost to the Warriors in the Finals in his first season back, then James helped engineer one of the signature comebacks in league history in 2015, rallying from 3-1 down to beat Golden State in seven games for the franchise’s first title. Cleveland then lost to the Warriors again in the 2017 and ’18 Finals before James moved on once more.
He signed with the Lakers in the summer of 2018 and has been there ever since. Los Angeles missed the postseason in 2019, won the championship in 2020, and has had only fleeting playoff success since.
For all the hardware and all the records - four MVP awards, 22 All-Star selections, a record 13 All-NBA first-team honors, plus four second-team and three third-team nods - James still appears to be chasing the one thing that matters most to him: another ring. He already has four NBA titles, and he was named Finals MVP for each one. His most recent championship came with the Lakers in the NBA’s COVID-19 bubble in 2020.
In Other News...
LeBron To Orlando Suddenly Feels Less Impossible Than Ever
LeBron James is expected to keep playing into the 2026-27 season, and the latest twist around his future has only added more intrigue for teams that can sell him on a real shot at another title. Rich Paul, the Klutch Sports CEO, said James has told the Lakers he intends to play elsewhere, which immediately pushed the conversation beyond Los Angeles and back toward the small circle of teams with the talent and structure to matter.
For Orlando, the idea is obvious enough to linger. The Magic have a young core that could appeal to a veteran still chasing championships, and the fit next to Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner is the kind of basketball conversation that naturally follows a player of James stature. Miami and Golden State remain in the mix as well, but the common thread is the same: this is less about a payday and more about finding the right place to make one more run. [Read more 🡒]
Magic Free Agency Pressure Is Building Around One Crucial Roster Hole
The Magic are headed into free agency with very little room to maneuver, and that reality shapes everything about how they can patch the roster. With only the taxpayer mid-level exception to work with, Orlando is operating in a market where upgrades will have to come from value buys, familiar faces or players other teams have overlooked. That makes the margin for error thin, especially for a team trying to keep building around its young core without overpaying for the wrong fit.
Beyond the larger roster picture, the front office is still staring at a clear opening in the backcourt and a few other areas that could use reinforcement. Orlando can also use more shooting and a little extra size in the middle, but those needs are easier to chase than finding the right ball-handler to steady the group. That is why the Magic are expected to keep circling the kinds of names fans have long attached to them in trade chatter, even if the actual solution ends up coming from a cheaper and less obvious corner of the market. [Read more 🡒]
Magic Fans Can See Weltman Zeroing In On One Major Fix
Orlandos offseason plans are starting to come into focus, and the biggest priority appears to be straightforward: give a young core more shooting and more reliable scoring around the edges. President of Basketball Operations Jeff Weltman and new head coach Sean Sweeney are now working with a clearer runway to reshape the roster, and the organization has already made one move to open up flexibility as free agency approaches.
The broader issue has been plain for a while, especially when the offense bogged down in the postseason and the three-point shooting never quite caught up to the defense. Weltman has made it clear the front office is looking to strengthen the group in free agency, and the next step will be finding the right kind of veteran help without disturbing the foundation Orlando has built. The question is whether the Magic can land the kind of frontcourt piece that fits both the timeline and the price. [Read more 🡒]