LeBron James opts in with Los Angeles Lakers for next NBA season: reports

Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James speaking onstage during Fanatics Fest NYC 2025 at Javits Center on June 21 in New York City. PHOTO: AFP

UPDATED Jun 30, 2025, 03:44 PM

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LOS ANGELES – LeBron James is exercising his US$52.6 million (S$67 million) player option to rejoin the Los Angeles Lakers next season, hoping to challenge for his fifth National Basketball Association (NBA) title, according to multiple reports on Sunday.

ESPN and The Athletic reported James, a four-time NBA Most Valuable Player who turns 41 in December, will be watching the Lakers’ off-season roster moves as he prepares for a record-setting 23rd NBA campaign.

“LeBron wants to compete for a championship,” James’ agent, Rich Paul, told ESPN. “He knows the Lakers are building for the future. He understands that, but he values a realistic chance of winning it all.

“We understand the difficulty in winning now while preparing for the future. We do want to evaluate what’s best for LeBron at this stage in his life and career. He wants to make every season he has left count, and the Lakers understand that, are supportive and want what’s best for him.”

James, the NBA’s all-time scoring leader, has not said whether he sees the 2025-26 NBA season as possibly his last, or whether he plans to play longer.

He would surpass the mark he shares with Vince Carter for the most career NBA seasons and needs only 50 more contests to break the all-time NBA record for most regular-season games played – 1,611 set by Robert Parish from 1976 to 1997.

James this past week posted a social media video of his first workout since suffering a left knee injury in a play-off loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

James averaged 24.4 points, 8.2 assists and 7.8 rebounds a game for the Lakers last season. He has career averages of 27.0 points, 7.4 assists and 7.5 rebounds.

The forward’s legacy includes 21 NBA All-Star selections as well as NBA crowns with the Miami Heat in 2012 and 2013, Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016 and the Lakers in 2020.

Across Los Angeles, James Harden declined his player option in order to sign a new two-year contract with the Clippers worth US$81.5 million, ESPN reported Sunday.

The 11-time All-Star guard will return to the Clippers after spending the past two seasons there. The second year of the new pact reportedly has a player option and partial guarantees.

Harden, who turns 36 before next season begins, played 79 games (all starts) for the Clippers in 2024-25 and averaged 22.8 points, 8.7 assists and 5.7 rebounds, though his three-point shooting ticked down from 38.1 per cent the year before to 35.2 per cent.

Elsewhere, the Portland Trail Blazers have reached an agreement to buy out the final year of Deandre Ayton’s contract and have requested waivers on him, making the centre a free agent, the team announced on June 29.

Ayton, 26, is owed US$35 million for the coming season to complete a four-year, $132 million contract that he had signed while with the Phoenix Suns, according to multiple media reports.

Instead, he will hit free agency on June 29 and be in much higher demand than in Portland, who picked centres Donovan Clingan (No. 7 in 2024) and Yang Hansen (No. 16 in 2025) in the first round of the two most recent drafts and also have veteran Robert Williams III.

Ayton averaged 14.4 points, 10.2 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.0 blocks in 40 games (all starts) last season, his second with Portland that was shortened by a season-ending left calf injury.

Meanwhile, Detroit Pistons guard Malik Beasley is being investigated by the US District Attorney’s Office on gambling allegations related to NBA games and prop bets, ESPN reported on June 29.

Citing unnamed sources, the sports network reported on its website the allegations are from the 2023-24 season, when Beasley played for the Milwaukee Bucks.

In that campaign, Beasley made a career-high 77 starts, averaging 11.3 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.4 assists over 79 appearances.

“An investigation is not a charge,” Beasley’s attorney, Steve Haney, told ESPN. “Malik is afforded the same right of the presumption of innocence as anyone else under the US constitution. As of now he has not been charged with anything.”

The 28-year-old veteran of nine NBA seasons is set to become a free agent and was in talks on a new three-year deal worth US$42 million with the Pistons. Those negotiations are now on hold, the report said. AFP, REUTERS

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