The Cleveland Cavaliers’ chances at landing another stint with LeBron James just took a considerable hit with the latest update from ESPN insider Shams Charania.
According to Shams, signs are pointing towards LeBron “likely” opting into his $54 million player option with the Los Angeles Lakers for the 2025-26 season.
“I’m told he’s likely to opt in,” Charania said on the Pat McAfee Show. “He’s got a player option about $54 million. He’s got a massive player option, that’s the plan. … There’s going to be some hard conversations that are going to happen between him, the Lakers, seeing what this team looks like because listen, LeBron James whether he plays one more season or a few more seasons, he wants to be in a competitive environment.”
If James does indeed decide to accept his player option with the Lakers, that effectively takes him off the open market for at least one more season and out of Cleveland’s sights as a potential target this summer.
Entering this offseason, some lingering buzz by the likes of Nick Wright and others ended up connecting James to his former team in Cleveland as a potentially strong fit to fit in with their championship core. However, accepting his player option would nix that idea before the wheels really started to spin.
It would also leave a sign-and-trade scenario impossible for the Cavaliers to complete. At $50 million, such a high cap number isn’t feasible to take on the books, not only with a ton of hefty salaries already on board, but also by being a second apron team in the new CBA.
Instead, signs point to the Cavaliers remaining relatively conservative in their offseason decisions. There is a world where this front office gets bold and moves off of one of their starting five members after a disappointing playoff result, but it seems the general expectation remains that Cleveland could easily try and run it back for the 2025-26 campaign… without the services of LeBron James.
Of course, there’s still an outside shot James could do something unexpected up until the buzzer sounds on his summer decision come June 29th, but don’t hold your hopes too high for his third run with the Cavaliers to be coming up anytime soon.
