The Los Angeles Lakers had their dreams come true in the 2018 NBA offseason when the legendary LeBron James signed with the franchise, and it paid off immediately with a championship in 2020. However, since then, the LeBron-led Lakers have been mildly disappointing.  

 The Lakers have made it past the first round of the playoffs just once since their 2020 title, when they reached the Western Conference Finals in 2023. Now, James is 40 years old, and time is running out for the Lakers to capitalize on having the argued GOAT on their hands.  

James has yet to suit up for the Lakers in year 23 as he deals with sciatica, and this is not ideal timing after an offseason filled with rumors about his uncertain future in Los Angeles.  

Where will LeBron be Next Year?

ESPN’s Shams Charania recently joined the Flagrant Podcast with Andrew Schultz to give an update on James’ future, and the credited NBA insider reports that everything is still up in the air.  

“We still don’t know where LeBron is gonna be,” Charania said. “Is he gonna finish his career with the Lakers, or is he gonna be somewhere else? I think it’s very much up in the air. I'm not sure that he knows exactly how the end is going to play out.

"Could it be with the Lakers? Sure, but he’s a free agent at the end of the season. So if he's going to continue to play, there's clearly a chance he's [going to wind up] somewhere else," Charania concluded.

 Of course, it is no surprise that James’ time in the NBA is winding down, but it is still crazy to think about after 23 seasons in the league. After such a storied career, everyone knows James will be hanging them as a first ballot Hall of Famer, but his cloudy future has certainly made fans think about what’s next.  

Not only is James’ future in the NBA in question, but his future with the Lakers is far from guaranteed. Sure, the assumption a few months ago would have been that James would retire as a Laker, but this has been a wild offseason for James, and many have begun to question how secure his future in Los Angeles truly is.  

James is in the last year of his contract, making it much more difficult to predict what will happen as he prepares to hit the open market.