The Lakers were eliminated from the 2026 NBA playoffs on Monday night at the hands of the Thunder. A fascinating offseason awaits Los Angeles as the franchise, backed by the cavernous pockets of new owner Mark Walter, looks to flank superstar Luka Dončić with championship-caliber talent. How they do so will be a defining aspect of this offseason and shape how next season will unfold.
The big question, of course, is where LeBron James fits into that goal—if he does at all.
James, 41, proved more than capable of taking a backseat to Dončić and Austin Reaves while still providing star-level production this past season for Los Angeles; he averaged 20.9 points, 7.2 assists and 6.1 rebounds per game by season’s end. The efficiency numbers fell off but James obviously exceeded expectations, again, for what a player with over 20 years’ worth of NBA experience should be capable of delivering on a nightly basis.
There’s a chance James retires this summer after 23 NBA seasons and little left to accomplish with all the records and accolades to his name. But he said after the Lakers got eliminated that he hasn’t made a decision yet, which echoes his answers to that question over the last year. And, as evidenced above, if James did retire, it would have nothing to do with his on-court abilities; diminished they might be compared to his early years, James was still only one of 12 players in the entire league to average at least 20 points, five rebounds and five assists this season.
Which makes what happens if he doesn’t retire a bit tricky. James is clearly still a good player who can help win playoff games. But he is no longer a max salary-level of player, and it’s never been more dangerous to offer up contracts greater than a player’s value given how difficult it is to balance a cap sheet in today’s NBA. The Lakers will already be juggling a lot financially with one supermax deal on the books with Dončić and the possibility of signing Reaves to a deal worth hundreds of millions as well.
Which all leads to the possibility that LeBron doesn’t retire, wants to suit up again for next season and will have several options at his disposal that are equally appealing, like his 2010 foray into free agency that ended with The Decision.
In that instance, there are some breadcrumbs to follow that can tell us what his priorities would be. Those breadcrumbs have allowed us to whittle down the number of truly, genuinely realistic LeBron free agent destinations to four teams.
That may not seem like a lot relative to how thrilled most franchises would be to employ James, but the criteria narrows it down quite a bit—any interested teams must have the ability to offer James a sizable deal, be an appealing location to the superstar forward and be in contention for next year’s title. Maybe he doesn’t need all three boxes checked to consider a team’s candidacy. But we know for sure a losing team isn’t going to sign LeBron, it’s exceptionally unlikely he signs a heavily discounted deal and the whole Memphis debacle made it clear he has strong opinions about geographic benefits at the age of 41.
Which led us to these four teams. We ranked them based on how much we want to see it happen and how much sense it makes for The King. So let’s get into it.
Honorable mentions
These teams won’t really be in the running for any number of reasons but are fun enough hypotheticals to mention here
Boston Celtics
On paper the Celtics actually make quite a bit of sense for James given Boston’s early flameout in this year’s playoffs. But if James doesn’t enjoy playing in Memphis or Milwaukee it’s hard to envision him enjoying New England and he literally can’t get further away from his L.A. homebase than playing at TD Garden. But imagine the conflicting rage both Lakers and Celtics fans would feel about this? It would be hilarious.
San Antonio Spurs
The Spurs are several failed championship runs away from going out of their way to add a seasoned star who can lead Victor Wembanyama to the promised land. But nobody should blame me for wishing James could suit up alongside one of the few humans in existence that exist on his tier of genetic freakiness.
Washigton Wizards
Obviously it’s going under-discussed that LeBron must go to Washington to put the final nail in the GOAT debate coffin and play his last year(s) for the Wizards—proving once and for all that whatever Michael Jordan did, he can do better. A purchase of the Hornets would have to follow.
LeBron James free agency landing spots, ranked
4. Los Angeles Clippers
If James’s No. 1 priority is to stay in L.A. in order to continue his career without straying far from his family and off-court interests, the Clippers are obviously in play. They’ll only be in play if the Lakers decline to extend an acceptable offer to James, but in play nevertheless. Team owner Steve Ballmer would undoubtedly pay any number to steal the generational superstar away from his crosstown rivals even as the Clips pivot towards a more youthful future after trading for Darius Garland and lucking into the No. 5 pick in the draft. The franchise might also need the positive PR if the NBA doles out serious punishment around the Kawhi Leonard-Aspiration scandal, which is not guaranteed but technically remains a possibility as long as the investigation is ongoing.
But while this Los Angeles franchise technically qualifies as a landing spot on the basis of location and finances, it would be by far the least interesting and impactful outcome. Seeing Leonard and James suit up together would be fun for however many games both would be healthy but it wouldn’t make the Clippers relevant in the championship contention landscape. Fans of James would certainly prefer seeing him take the floor instead of hanging up the sneakers but this would be the closest thing James could come to Jordan’s forgettable Wizards era.
3. Los Angeles Lakers
Through no fault of their own the Lakers are punished in these rankings. Why? Because James re-signing is the lamest choice, objectively. It wouldn’t create ripple effects throughout the NBA the way a signing anywhere else would. LeBron in Lakers’ purple and gold is already a familiar sight; his eight years in Los Angeles so far makes for the longest stretch he’s played for one team in his career. If James is going to consider going elsewhere we should all be rooting for something different just for the sake of it. Even if the pull of staying in Hollywood, where he is in the process of building his post-playing career and where his family calls home, might wind up enough for James to take a steep discount for the first time ever.
But there would be some fun upsides. Watching James play off Dončić and Reaves was a fascinating test of his basketball acumen but we were robbed of seeing what it would look like in the postseason. It’d be fascinating to see what this team could do if Dončić was able to shoulder the load for most of a playoff series with James only stepping in to finish the job—something of a closer role that doesn’t exist in the NBA but one that LeBron could be very good at. It’s not L.A.’s fault this wouldn’t be a particularly interesting outcome for neutral observers but there would still be things to look forward to.
2. Cleveland Cavaliers
I’m Coming Home, Part 3? What a storybook ending to James’s career this would be. The Chosen One returning to where it all started is too cliché even for today’s Hollywood—but it could happen. ESPN reported earlier this year that the Cavaliers would “gladly welcome” James back into the fold if he wanted to finish his career in Cleveland and the front office might be willing to reshape the team entirely if this roster falls short again in the playoffs. Would they be willing to give up Evan Mobley in order to team James up with Giannis Antetokounmpo? Would they try a Big 3 of James Harden, Donovan Mitchell and James before shopping everybody else to build a contender around those talents? There are a number of different ways to go about bringing James home again and that makes it a very entertaining thought exercise.
The wide range of outcomes gives the Cavs an edge over most other options in these rankings. Only in Cleveland can one imagine a LeBron-Giannis pairing; no other realistic landing spot has the flexibility to do much beyond sign James in the first place. Pair those possibilities with the satisfying narrative closure of James wrapping it up where it all started and this would make for a great last lap for the longtime great.
1. Golden State Warriors
Which brings us to the best possible option—James teaming up with Steph Curry and Steve Kerr to try to push for one last title.
Watching the two superstars play alongside one another during the 2024 Olympics was a treat for basketball fans. Who wouldn’t sign up for an entire season’s worth of those highlights? Not to mention who else the Warriors would try to bring in to help the star duo—they are clearly desperate to see Curry succeed in his final years and just about everything should be on the table in pursuit of that goal. It would be great theater to see James and Curry try to mesh with each other, as well as a freshly-assembled roster, as they pursue a championship. It’d also be fun to see what James looks like in Kerr’s ball movement-heavy system.
Above all, there are few things better in sports than watching all-time great talents rage against the inevitable. James and Curry are in the twilights of their careers and may not have the legs to carry a team to contention anymore. But that won’t stop them from doing everything in their power to prove otherwise. It would be the most fun and interesting last sprint for a championship from two players whose rivalry defined much of the last decade of NBA basketball.
Golden State would be aggressive in trying to move money around to sign James. He can agree to join the team knowing it’s a quick jaunt down to L.A. for whatever needs might arise at home. Enough boxes are checked on both sides that we can whole-heartedly endorse the Dubs as the best possible James landing spot with a realistic belief that it could actually come to be.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as LeBron James Free Agency Landing Spots: Ranking the Four Most Likely Suitors for Superstar’s Talents.
