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James ‘Wants Out Of LA’ And Lakers ‘Want Him Gone’

by July 3, 2025 4 Comments

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  1. FROM ABOVE ARTICLE:

    According to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7, LeBron James “wants out of LA” and the Los Angeles Lakers “want him gone.”

    James picked up his 2025-26 player option with the Lakers. He controls his future since he has a no-trade clause in his contract.

    The Lakers lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the 2025 playoffs in five games. James averaged 25.4 points, 9.0 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.8 blocks in the five-game series.

    After James picked up his 2025-26 player option with the Lakers, Rich Paul of Klutch Sports Group issued a statement to Shams Charania of ESPN.

    “LeBron wants to compete for a championship,” Paul said. “He knows the Lakers are building for the future. He understands that, but he values a realistic chance of winning it all. We are very appreciative of the partnership that we’ve had for eight years with Jeanie [Buss] and Rob [Pelinka] and consider the Lakers as a critical part of his career.

    “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.”

      • While the article is baseless, it’s a decent enough theory. Truth is no one had any cap space to sign him, nor does anyone have the assets to send out to absorb his salary that far outpaces his performance on the court and the circus that follows him.

        If he really wanted to compete, he should’ve either opted out or taken less. The whole “it’s the team’s problem to figure out how to field a contender while giving us the max every time” is the most self-serving piece of nonsense, much like the CBA in general. Players were willing to give up just about anything for guaranteed money. Small markets would agree to anything as long as it limited the big market advantages. Lebron and CP3 only cared about themselves to the point they even snuck in the over-38 rule (formerly over-34) so they could continued to get paid max deals longer. So can it with the whole “not my problem” attitude. You signed the deal and you want to compete? Take a haircut. Until they fix this joke of a CBA by either eliminating guarantees or ever further limiting who can get those max dollars, stupid results like this will continue for guys like him.

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