Although LeBron James’ agent remains unsure which NBA team he will join for next season, Rich Paul sounded confident on when to expect the NBA’s oldest active player will finalize his future.
“I don’t think this happens anytime soon,” Paul told me.
Should teams be prepared for James to make a decision in weeks instead of days?
“I don’t think it’ll be the next few days,” Paul said.
On his latest “Game Over” podcast with Max Kellerman, Paul included 10 teams on a whiteboard that James may consider joining, including the Cleveland Cavaliers, Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Miami Heat, New York Knicks, Golden State Warriors, Dallas Mavericks, Boston Celtics and San Antonio Spurs. But Paul strongly suggested James would not join the Knicks since they just won an NBA championship and would not want to disrupt their chemistry. James already told the Los Angeles Lakers directly that he did not plan to end his career with them after playing for them in the past eight seasons.
Other than that, Paul stressed that James believes that “everything is a blank slate” and that “he’s taking his time.” James has vacationed with family and has gone on different golf outings. James also vacationed recently with former Cavaliers teammates on the 2016 NBA championship team, including Kevin Love, Richard Jefferson, J.R. Smith, Tristan Thompson and Channing Frye.
“This is the first time he’s making a decision that is truly for him. There is no pressure,” Paul said. “When he left Cleveland [in 2010 for Miami], he had to win a ring. When he came back [in 2014], he had to deliver on the promise. This is at this stage where he can decide what he wants to do and how he wants to do it.”
With the Lakers prioritizing their future around Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves, the 41-year-old James faces question marks on what his market value and his role entails entering his 24th and possibly final NBA season. In the 2025-26 campaign, James earned $52 million while averaging 20.9 points while shooting 51.5% from the field and 31.7% from 3-point range along with 7.2 assists and 6.1 rebounds in 60 games.
Although he missed the Lakers’ first 14 regular-season games with sciatica in his right hip, James avoided a major injury afterwards. He also adapted as the Lakers’ No. 3 option behind Dončić and Reaves in both shots and ball-handling duties, while also elevating his role to account for Dončić and Reaves nursing overlapping injuries throughout the season.
Dončić missed the entire postseason and the final five regular-season games with a Grade 2 strained left hamstring). Reaves played in the Lakers’ final two playoff losses to Oklahoma City in the second round after missing the last five regular-season games and first eight playoff games with a Grade 2 left oblique strain.
Although it’s not clear when or if James will decide his future, one rival NBA executive believes he will choose the Warriors for various reasons.
The Warriors could sign James at a nontaxpayers mid-level exception at $15 million. He has a close bond and respect for Warriors guard Stephen Curry and Draymond Green after once servings as adversaries in four consecutive NBA Finals against Cleveland (2014-18). Since winning the 2022 NBA title, the Warriors have lost twice in the second round (2023, 2025) and in the NBA’s Play-In tournament (2024, 2026). But they could theoretically be in the mix so long as Curry, Green and James stay relatively healthy. It is possible that James would be able to mostly live in Los Angeles because of the one-hour flights to the Bay Area and coach Steve Kerr likely reducing practices and shootarounds to manage his veteran-laden roster.
James could experience a more organic farewell tour in his third stop in Cleveland, but he has fielded skepticism that he would join the Cavaliers on a veteran’s minimum deal. He’s expected to view the Miami Heat as a more viable option after they acquired Giannis Antetokounmpo from the Milwaukee Bucks. The Heat could also offer a taxpayer mid-level exception between $11 or $12 million per years.
As he showed on the whiteboard during his latest podcast, however, Paul stressed that he can’t currently handicap which teams that James most favors.
“I’m on his schedule,” Paul said. “I can’t tell the man how fast to move. When he’s telling me what he’s deciding, that’s when I’ll let you guys know.”
