“Yeah, usually when a star player like LeBron opts into his contract, the team announces the move. I find this very strange. Something is definitely going on behind the scenes.” One NBA executive told Hoops Wire, there is more to the LeBron James-Lakers situation than meets the eye. Despite opting into his $52.6 million player option for the 2025-26 season, there has been no announcement from the Lakers’ front office. A silence on that front is concerning; are they moving on from the 40-year-old superstar?

In fact, ESPN’s previous report from Ramona Shelburne and Brian Windhorst already hinted at that. Shelburne previously accurately reported Jeanie Buss’s role as governor of the team after the $10 billion sale. Now, the update from ESPN stated, “As the party exited out the front door, the franchise unofficially made that message public: It is ready to usher in the Luka Doncic era in Los Angeles, even if that means sunsetting the LeBron James one.” The arrival of Doncic in February meant he would be the superstar after James, but nobody expected it to be this soon.

But moving on from King James is not easy, and he could stay this year with the team, and Lakers reporter Jovan Buha explained why. “I think maybe around the trade deadline, you know, depending on how things go. It’s just it’s like I don’t see him taking a buyout because if he wanted to take a buyout, he should have just opted out and then signed some type of free agency deal.” He continued, “Lakers are not going to be like, ‘All right, we’ll eat the, you know, 50 of the 53 million and you go sign a minimum contract in Cleveland or Dallas or whatever.'”

That heavy price tag is the reason why other teams like Cleveland, Dallas, and the Warriors can’t do it without losing something major in return. He also described the situation: “So it gets hard to see like a natural trade partner.” For Cavs, Buha stated it would be “second apron situation“. For the Mavs, they would have to clear out “multiple role players” and lose depth in their squad. Even the Stephen Curry-LeBron James reunion is not a direct possibility. “Are they giving up like Jimmy? Like even that, I don’t think technically works under the CBA.”

LeBron James’ ideology is different from the Lakers’ front office

When the 21x All-Star opted in for the contract, his agent put forward clear conditions for the team. Rich Paul stated, “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…” This statement signified the intent that King James was looking at options if the Lakers didn’t build a potent roster. So, how did Rob Pelinka respond?

The GM signed 25-year-old Deandre Ayton, who’s coming off a down year in Portland. And Jake LaRavia, a low-usage forward with limited playoff upside. The team’s message is to form a young team, and the plan was reportedly to save cap space for the 2027 free agency period to potentially sign a max-level player. That’s when names like Giannis Antetokounmpo or Nikola Jokic come in.

Saving cap space for 2027 directly negates LeBron James‘ message of ‘win-now’ vision. So, the Lakers’ front office has a tough decision to make—to go all in right now and capitalize on the LeBron window or plan for the 2027 offseason and build around Luka. For now, they have their two superstars, but the franchise is choosing one, and that doesn’t seem to be King James.