LeBron James’ future with the Los Angeles Lakers is now one of the biggest questions hanging over the franchise going into the 2025-26 season. Even in prior years, there were rumors floating around about a potential LeBron trade with the Golden State Warriors inquiring about a possible deal, though nothing came of it.
Now, the idea of James in another uniform has come up once again this offseason, mainly following the statement made by his agent Rich Paul after he picked up his player option for the 2026 season. Paul’s statement on LeBron wanting to win now and evaluating the Lakers’ offseason moves seemed to open the door at a possibility of him wanting to move on, and interested teams took notice.
Once again, one of those teams was the Warriors, who reportedly internally considered making a trade offer to the Lakers for James, via Ramona Shelburne and Brian Windhorst of ESPN:
A handful of teams — including the Golden State Warriors, who tried to trade for James in 2023-24 — considered again whether to make an offer, sources said.
LeBron has a no-trade clause so he can basically choose which team he wants to go to should he desire a trade. But one would have to imagine the Warriors, with the chance to team up with fellow superstar Stephen Curry, would be a team he would waive that clause for.
Putting together a trade for LeBron and his $52.6 million salary is no easy feat, however, and for the Warriors would have to involve Jimmy Butler as they don’t have the necessary salary beyond him to make a deal happen. It would also mean the Lakers would be trading James inside their division, which they would likely want to avoid if they ever were to trade the superstar.
A LeBron trade still seems unlikely overall, but should it come to that the Warriors are clearly a team that is interested in bringing the four-time champion in.
Could 2025-26 season be LeBron James’ last with Lakers?
The fact that LeBron James is entering the final year of his contract with no type of extension being discussed with the Lakers is something that hadn’t occurred throughout his tenure with the franchise, but is now the case. With the Lakers focused on building the team around Luka Doncic, there is a possibility that the 2025-26 season could be LeBron’s last in the purple and gold, should he want to continue playing beyond this season.
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