LeBron James has officially entered his favorite offseason activity: making everyone panic.
The NBA legend has not decided what he wants to do next, but that hasn’t stopped the basketball world from acting like the league is about to collapse. With free agency opening on June 30, LeBron is reportedly keeping every option available.
Return to the Lakers? Not on the table. Join another team? Possible. Retire? Technically possible!
According to ESPN insider Ramona Shelburne, initial conversations between James’ camp and the Lakers have remained informal and exploratory.
“LA is the first team he can talk to because they’re their own free agent,” Shelburne said on SportsCenter. “My understanding is they had initial conversations with LeBron James’ representative, but he has not even fully committed to returning next year in these conversations.”
LeBron considering retirement has become an annual tradition at this point. It’s right up there with pumpkin spice season and people saying they’ll start going to the gym in January.
Shelburne described the discussions as little more than both sides “keeping in touch,” noting that no contract figures have been discussed and no commitment has been made.
“I think that’s been interpreted as something like, ‘LeBron is still assessing his options,’” Shelburne said. “Whether that is retirement or whether that is other teams.”
That uncertainty was echoed by James’ longtime agent Rich Paul, who recently dismissed widespread speculation surrounding the four-time NBA champion.
“There’s nobody that knows anything about anything that pertains to LeBron,” Paul said. “LeBron James is gonna take as much time as he needs and wants.”
Paul added that roughly 10 to 12 teams have already expressed interest in James should he decide to leave Los Angeles.
For now, the only thing we know is that LeBron has options. Lots of them.
And somewhere in Los Angeles, a Lakers executive is probably staring at the ceiling at 2 a.m. wondering if the next notification on his phone will say, “LeBron is back,” “LeBron is leaving,” or “LeBron has decided to spend more time with his billion-dollar business empire.”
