Reporter: The Lakers can theoretically lay off James and let him go, but I don t think there is any reason to do so
According to famous reporter Shams Charania, Lakers forward James will execute his contract's player option worth $52.6 million in the 2025-26 season to compete in his 23rd season of his career. James still has the veto in the contract after executing the option.
In this regard, ESPN reporter Tim Bontemps talked about the prospect of James' application for a deal on the "Get Up" program: "Because LeBron has the trade veto, he will control all parts of his own trade, so LeBron can not only express his favorite next home, but also designate the chip players he uses to trade, because after he joins the new team, there are some players he hopes to stay in the team to work with.
" Dating back 20 years ago, Kobe Bryant also had the trade veto. He played for the Lakers at the time and wanted to go to the Bulls. Both sides discussed which players should be added to the trade, and eventually, Dr. Jerry Bass sat down with Kobe and said, ‘We won’t trade you. It's not worth it. You will continue to stay with the Lakers. ’I think the end result of this will be. I don't know if a similar conversation will happen, but there is no realistic way to get LeBron to go elsewhere through the trade, so I think in the fall we'll see LeBron and Doncic appearing in the Lakers jerseys at the same time. ”
Host: “If they can’t trade him and he does want to leave the team, is there any way to buy him out so that he can become a free agent? ”
Bontemps: “Theory, the Lakers could cut him and say, ‘Hey, now you can become a free agent. ’I don’t think the Lakers have any reason to do this, especially considering that just two days ago, LeBron had the chance to choose to jump out of the contract and become a free agent. Instead, he chose to execute a player option worth $52.6 million next season. ”