LeBron James is set to become an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2026.
At that point, James will have the freedom to pick his next team or decide if it is time to retire.
The questions are already piling up. Will he stay with the Los Angeles Lakers, move somewhere else, or hang up his boots?
Brian Windhorst has weighed in on the topic and believes LeBron will not be stepping away from the game just yet.
Where will LeBron James play in the 2025-26 season?
Plenty of teams have been linked to LeBron if he does end up leaving the Lakers.
The New York Knicks and the Cleveland Cavaliers are two clubs that have come up in connection with his future, but nothing has really gained any traction just yet.
Windhorst was recently asked where he thinks James will land next season and gave a pretty clear answer, narrowing it down to two teams.
“I can see LeBron [James] as a Cav or as a Laker.
“There’s only a certain amount of places he can play, right, for 100 different reasons, he’s going to be limited.
“You can’t have a team where you’ve got three gigantic salaries. Where those three guys aren’t like studs.
“It’s not realistic for a 41-year-old even if he’s the greatest 41-year-old athlete the world has ever seen to make the salary that he’s making.
“You know for the last 15 years, LeBron’s been very attuned to maximizing his salary because he felt he was underpaid.
“So the max has been very important to LeBron and so obviously that’s going to have to be compromised, if he wants I think obviously if he wants to be a Laker because I don’t think the Lakers can do that anymore.
“But he doesn’t have anything to prove.
“He doesn’t need anything…and I think he can keep playing with the Lakers he’s just not going to do it at $50 million.”
LeBron James’ future with the Lakers still up in the air
If James is open to staying in Los Angeles, it would require him to take a significant pay cut compared to his current deal.
But it is also possible the Lakers decide it is time to move on and focus fully on Luka Doncic.
This summer, the Lakers may have their attention elsewhere, with Austin Reaves set to enter free agency and likely becoming their top priority.
James might not be interested in staying in a secondary role behind Doncic, and could instead look at a homecoming with Cleveland as a better option.
There is also the possibility of joining a team like the Knicks, who are already built to contend, even if it means taking less money than he could get by staying with the Lakers.
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