The end of James career is coming? All three choices are dead. Retiring from the Lakers is the only decent choice

In the business process of professional sports, there is no eternal king, only eternal capital operation.

In the history of the NBA, no superstar can truly defeat time. He is as strong as Jordan, and he cannot even make the playoffs in the Wizards' comeback. Kobe became a high-paying supporting role after a ruptured Achilles tendon, and he has been hovering in the lottery zone for many years. Now, LeBron James is standing at the same time node as Jordan and Kobe. His data is still gorgeous, but the balance of capital is no longer tilted towards him.

For the first time in the summer of 2025, there was no news about James' contract renewal on the NBA rumor board, and the NBA's historical scoring champion implemented the $52.6 million player option for the 2025-26 season without warning. After that, some media revealed that the Lakers had made it clear that they would not provide James with contract renewal. On the one hand, Los Angeles had made it clear that Doncic was the core of the team building.

On the other hand, it may be a more cruel fact that James may no longer be worth the maximum salary. His best and most decent choice may be to retire after the end of his contract in 2026.

1. Retirement, transaction, or salary cuts?

"James understands the decision of the Lakers to turn to young superstars, but feels that his past contributions have been ignored." This is James' mentality revealed by American sources. The 2025 offseason was cold, which made the old king encounter unprecedented embarrassment. In other words, James, who has been talking about commercial value, is now facing the ruthlessness of commercial sports from the team.

James' contract expires in 2026. Judging from the current situation, he only has three possibilities: retirement after the contract ends in 2026, trade in the new season, and a significant salary cut in 2026 to join the new championship team.

Objectively speaking, James is very undecent in any situation. But if you really want to make a choice, the best choice may be retirement.

For James, retiring retained his dignity as a historical star. At the age of 41, he still finished his last season with a maximum salary to avoid the embarrassment of being displaced in the NBA. The retirement tour that fans imagined may not be held, but at that time, both the Lakers and the Cavaliers were willing to hold a grand farewell ceremony for him. If the retirement ceremony was held in Los Angeles, it would be a relatively perfect Hollywood ending and a win-win decent exit.

If you want to choose to continue playing in the NBA, then there are very few teams that James can choose. If it is a transaction, it means that the original championship-level configuration will be dismantled. If you want to join, you can only use salary cuts and role positioning to weaken. No matter which one it is, it is not a good choice for James, who wants to continue to win the championship and has a proud personality.

2. James' theory of changing teams is feasible, but there is no way out in reality

As we all know, James has a very high desire for championships, especially at the end of his career, he wants to win more championships to consolidate his historical position. If you waste a year in the Lakers, can James change teams in 2026?

The Lakers no longer regard James as part of the team's future, which means that if he wants to continue winning the championship, he can only continue to switch teams. In order to grasp James's peak state at the age of 41 (2026 playoffs), the ideal way to win the championship is to trade. With the trade veto power in hand, the Lakers have very little room to send James away. According to media reports, the four teams that are interested in James are the Cavaliers, Warriors, Mavericks and Clippers, but it is really not easy to join these teams in 2026.

James's ideal destination is the Cavaliers. After all, this is where he won the championship and has feelings. However, the Cavaliers' team's total salary ranks first in the league in the 2025-26 season, with a total amount of up to 230 million US dollars, even in the 2026-27 season, there were 226 million. The Mavericks have old partners like Thick Brow and Irving. The team's lineup is reasonable and lacks strikers. They are indeed suitable for James. The next two seasons, with salary of US$215 million and US$193 million respectively, are also difficult to move forward.

The Clippers' 189 million new season seems good, but more importantly, they only have a total salary of 128 million in the 2026-27 season, and there is a lot of room for operation. But are they really willing to pay a maximum salary for a 41-year-old veteran? The Clippers' plan is similar to that of the Lakers, and they are all aiming at top super giants such as Jokic, Embiid, and Antetokounmpo in 2026 and 2027. They cannot leave their maximum salary contracts to James. Even if there is no new super giant joining, James will definitely be under Leonard and Harden when he comes to the Clippers team, and his position is very awkward.

The Warriors' total salary is $169 million, and the financial situation is relatively good, but the Warriors already have old men like Curry and Butler. It is hard to say whether James can run until the fourth quarter.

Of course, if you have to join these interested teams, it means that James will have to cut his salary significantly, and may even be able to receive a middle-class contract of about 10 million yuan. As a superstar who has always received a maximum salary or is close to a maximum salary, such a significant salary cut is an insult to James. Will he really be willing?

3. Trading dilemma, will anyone pay the price for James?

Is it feasible to follow the trading path? Actually, it is also not optimistic.

In the East, when the Celtics and Pacers both suffered large-scale injuries, the Cavaliers are the most promising to reach the finals in the new season. They were the first in the regular season last season, with a stable lineup and a tacit understanding of the team. If you want to trade salary, you will probably take Garland to maintain the stability of the lineup.

If Garland is used to trade James, the Lakers should be happy, but the Cavaliers may not. Although Garland did not play well in the playoffs and was also a famous colander, as a two-time All-Star player, the Cavaliers could exchange for some future assets in the trade, either a draft pick, a young player, or a better combat power.

For James to send off his assets in the last half of the season, it is obvious that it is not something a commercial sports team will do, and it is better to wait for him to join in freely. Similarly, if the Mavericks want to win, James will inevitably face the situation of breaking up the team, and there is no need for this to be done for half a season.

As for the Clippers and the Warriors, it is not impossible to trade James, but those who can give it out to match the big contract are all negative assets. It may be feasible for the Warriors to renew their contract with Kumingga, but they won nothing after selling off a period of offseason. Why do they think that the Lakers are willing to accept Kumingga's thorns that have not truly proved themselves?

4. Can James really accept the sixth man?

It can basically be confirmed that by the summer of 2026, 41-year-old James will face a situation where there is no market. No team in the league will offer him an annual salary of more than 50 million yuan (see that no one has consulted James for the contract this offseason, so you can know that only the player options are implemented). If he wants to continue to compete for the championship, he may be forced to accept a middle-class contract (about 10 million US dollars), and he will also face a situation where the team's status is greatly weakened.

But the players in the transformation role clashed with James' pride. The NBA's historical scoring champion who was selected as the All-Second Team last season accepted the substitute?

Objectively speaking, James is indeed able to play, but he no longer has the ability to do his best in the whole game. Last season, he was the only player in the NBA All-NBA team with a negative plus or negative value. This is not to say that he can't do it, but when James devoted all his energy to the offensive end, he no longer had the physical strength to defend.

A team that competes for the championship cannot allow such a player with a negative plus or negative value as the core, otherwise, others will only fill in the playoffs. Therefore, the best way for James is to reduce his playing time, such as controlling it to about 25 minutes. During this period, James will definitely be able to maintain his peak state on the offensive end and take into account a little defensively, so that he can maintain his playing field value.

He can still play his remaining energy as a championship puzzle and is expected to hit the championship, which is the role positioning may be to lead the substitute or serve as the end point of the small ball lineup.

The absolute core of the team for twenty years suddenly handed over the scepter? This psychological level is very difficult to overcome.

5. Retirement is James' only decent choice. The top super giants in the NBA are often quite arrogant. Kobe's condition declined sharply after the Achilles tendon torn at the end of his career, but even when he was obviously no longer suitable to be the core, he still refused to give up his scepter and would rather fight for his life on the court than accept a more substitute role.

Iverson once tried to put down his figure and chose to play the sixth man when he was on the Pistons, but he gave up after playing a few games and chose to retire. The reason is very simple. Iverson, so proud, could not accept his position as a substitute, which was a psychological insult to him.

James is not that no one wants it, but James, who has a high salary of more than 40 million, will not be as good as a team that wins the championship (it may even be difficult to 30 million). But which team can easily free up even more than 20 million yuan in salary?

The Lakers have made it clear that they will not cooperate with James' retirement tour in the 2025-26 season, but if they change to other teams, who is willing to cooperate with James' retirement tour? The Cavaliers with hope of winning the championship cannot allow James to make unlimited moves on the court for the sake of his retirement tour (referring to Kobe's retirement tour, it is basically Hu Tho). Similarly, the Mavericks, the Clippers and the Warriors cannot cooperate with him to complete the retirement tour.

Another team that may be willing to cooperate with the tour is the Heat, but returning to Miami means he loses hope of winning the championship, and sinking into a team that has no hope of winning the championship is not James' style. What's more, Riley's stinginess and Spoel's resistance to making things worse, James may not get the privileges he wants for retirement tours at the Heat.

So when James' contract expires in 2026, the NBA may witness the end of an era. It is not failure, but the victory of the laws of nature.

James no longer needs to prove anything, his legend has long been engraved into history. In this awkward situation, the choice of true wisdom may be to choose to turn around and leave gracefully in the afterglow of the peak.