On the surface, the Los Angeles Lakers haven’t had the worst offseason. They added some frontcourt depth, and LeBron James opted in for the 2025-26 season. Yet somehow, it feels like a disaster.
For one, even though it’s public knowledge that James has opted in, the Lakers haven’t officially announced it yet. An NBA executive confirmed that it’s pretty telling that Los Angeles has yet to do this.
NBA Executive Says Lakers Not Announcing LeBron James News is ‘Very Strange’
Per Hoops Wire’s Sam Amico, one veteran NBA executive told him that he finds it “very strange” that the Lakers haven’t officially announced James’ decision yet.
Amico then revealed what the executive meant by the strange actions between James and the Lakers.
“Yeah, usually when a star player like LeBron opts into his contract, the team announces the move,” the executive told Amico. “I find this very strange. Something is definitely going on behind the scenes. I mean, the odds of LeBron getting traded are very, very low. His salary is just too high.
“But I think LeBron and the Lakers’ front office are butting heads,” Amico reported from the NBA executive. “They haven’t had an impressive offseason at all and then there are rumors that (Lakers general manager) Rob (Pelinka) is saving cap space for 2027. That’s just idiotic when you have LeBron and Luka.”
NBA Exec Finds It ‘Very Strange’ Lakers Haven’t Announced LeBron James Picking Up 2025-26 Player Optionhttps://t.co/yxN2LXrdYC
— Sam Amico (@AmicoHoops) July 10, 2025
James has been in the league for 22 years, and though he has switched teams three times, that has never been via trade. Even though he has soured on situations, he has never demanded out of them.
What Does James’ History Tell Us About This Situation?
The Lakers’ history of building a contender around James since he joined them in 2018 is mixed. They acquired Anthony Davis the following year, which led to them getting their 17th banner in 2020. They then acquired Russell Westbrook, effectively removing their status as title contenders.
The Lakers then rectified that mistake when they got rid of Westbrook in 2023. While that got them to the Western Conference Finals in 2023, the team has not been able to replicate its success since the Bubble season.
Acquiring Luka Dončić certainly has got to make James feel good, but it still didn’t get the Lakers anywhere (yet). While the Lakers should be glad to have both Dončić and James on the same team, there’s only so much time left with the latter. It’s hard not to see what’s going on between him and the Lakers and think there might be problems.
In an offseason where there should be plenty of optimism about the Lakers’ ceiling, there suddenly seems to be plenty of uncertainty.
