The 2024-25 NBA season felt like a great opportunity for the Los Angeles Lakers to break their drought and reach the NBA Finals. A blockbuster trade for Luka Doncic set them on their way, but they had one too many flaws come postseason time. Now, the Doncic trade looks like it was a future-focused move.
Getting a player of Doncic’s caliber set the franchise up to have a star for several years down the road, as long as the player wants to stay in LA. Given that he’s being groomed as the franchise star, many have wondered what that means for LeBron James. Entering his age 41 season, James needs assurances that the Lakers will have the proper roster to compete for a championship. Early on in the NBA offseason, that’s looking like a tricky proposition.
It has already led to rumors that James could be traded before next season. His agent, Rich Paul, has come out to dismiss the notion that LeBron wants out of Los Angeles. But in the process, he dropped a crucial bit of information.
LeBron James will wait for Lakers to make offseason moves before deciding on future
ESPN’s Dave McMenamin revealed what Paul told him about James’ mindset at the moment.
“Right now, LeBron is focused on playing on a championship-caliber roster. Rich told me there’s no guarantees in building a championship-caliber roster, but we know what it looks like and it doesn’t look like and we’ll see in a week from now.“
It was also revealed that four teams have already reached out to the Lakers with intentions to negotiate a trade for James. But it sounds like LeBron is waiting to see what the Lakers roster will look like after free agency and trades play out, before making a final decision on his future.
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