Veteran forward LeBron James has until June 29 to exercise his $52.7 million player option for the 2025-26 season. Although most analysts expect James to opt out and sign a new deal, there is growing uncertainty about his unwillingness to take a pay cut to help the Lakers build a championship-level roster.
Amid the uncertainty, Shannon Sharpe, a close friend of the Lakers superstar, has shut down rumors of James departing for the Cavaliers to close out his career.
“No, I don’t see it,” Sharpe said on the May 10 episode of his “Nightcap” podcast. “He loves everything about L.A. Savannah [his wife] loves everything about LA. I don’t believe he goes back [to Cleveland]. Go back and do what? You play with Luka.”
“I think really loves the Lakers,” Sharpe continued. “I really think he loves living in L.A. I think he loves all things L.A. The weather is nice year-round. He don’t really have to have an overcoat.”
Sharpe then argued that only Shaquille O’Neal was historically a top-tier star who departed from the Lakers.
“You know you can have a top down damn near year-round,” James said of remaining in Los Angeles. “You got water, you got beaches. I mean everything. His businesses are in L.A. There’s really nothing for him not to like about L.A.”
“Shaq is really the only one I can remember that came here and left. Kareem [Abdul-Jabba] didn’t leave. Wilt [Chamberlain] didn’t leave. Kobe [Bryant] didn’t leave. Magic [Johnson] didn’t leave.”
It can’t be denied that James, 40, is still a top-15 player in the NBA. In the 2024-25 season, he averaged 24.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 8.2 assists at 51/38/78 shooting splits, becoming the first player to tally such numbers in their 22nd NBA season.
