ESPN on why LeBron James didn't meet with the Lakers

[ASFN Admin]

Right after the Los Angeles Lakers were swept out of the second round of the NBA playoffs by the Oklahoma City Thunder two months ago, it seemed they were the team LeBron James would most likely play for next season. According to Rich Paul, his longtime friend and agent, he was "80%" sure he wanted to stay with the Lakers around that time.

But as the weeks went by, James' thinking changed, and last Tuesday, the Lakers were informed that he wouldn't be re-signing with them in free agency. As of Monday, he still hasn't officially chosen a new team, and he almost assuredly won't retire this summer after a record 23 seasons in the league.

According to a new ESPN report by Ramona Shelburne, there were no offers made to James by the Lakers. They wanted to set up a remote meeting with the 41-year-old in late June, but they were turned down because he had already decided he was moving on.

"For a week, neither James' camp nor the Lakers had exchanged formal or even informal offers, according to sources on both sides of the situation," Shelburne wrote.

"Nor had they discussed a vision for a future together, or even met face-to-face -- in person or virtually.

"The Lakers called Paul a week before free agency, when teams could approach their own free agents, to try to arrange a videoconference with James and were told he wasn't available.

"Paul didn't say why at the time, but he told ESPN it was because James had already decided he didn't want to return to the Lakers and that there was no need for a call."

According to Shelburne, as many suspected, James wanted the Lakers to show him how they planned to improve their roster if they wanted him to take a pay cut, but they never did. Shelburne implied that it resulted in James feeling he wasn't a priority for them.

Many saw James' tenure with the Purple and Gold starting to come to an end when the franchise landed Luka Doncic in February 2025. Doncic was just 25 years of age at the time and immediately became the main star around whom the organization revolved, which meant James wasn't that man for the first time in his basketball career.

He went along with it and even accepted being L.A.'s third scoring option behind Doncic and Austin Reaves this past season. But a team source feels that not enough was done to make James feel loved and appreciated.

"Honestly, I don't know if we did enough to acknowledge the sacrifices he made in being willing to give the keys over to Luka and AR this year," the staffer conceded. "Of course he has a big ego and people can say what they want about that. But he's also the No. 1 scorer in the history of basketball and he really tried to do what was best for the team to win."

With that, the storied Lakers franchise is moving on and is building around and for Doncic in earnest. James ended up playing eight seasons with it, and while his tenure there is largely seen as a disappointment, especially compared to the tenures of other Lakers superstars in the past, he rescued it from the basketball purgatory it seemed doomed to remain in when he arrived in 2018.

Once superstar big man Anthony Davis joined him a year later, they brought the Lakers their 17th NBA championship in their first season together.

This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: ESPN on why LeBron James didn't meet with the Lakers

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