Will LeBron James Ditch Lakers For West Rival As Free Agent This Summer?

LA's future is suddenly murky as it stares at an 0-3 deficit to the Nuggets.

Apr 25, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) reacts. / Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

The Los Angeles Lakers' future is suddenly in doubt, as the team stares at an 0-3 deficit to the reigning champion Denver Nuggets in the first round of their ongoing playoff series.

That's because two of LA's starters own lucrative player options for next year.

20-time All-Star forward LeBron James has a $51.4 million player option for the 2024-25 season, while starting point guard D'Angelo Russell possesses an $18.7 million deal.

Despite solid two-way play in the series so far, James just doesn't quite have the ability to play at his peak transcendent level against a younger, deeper, faster Nuggets team that seems to lean on slick, multifaceted offense and relentless intensity.

In a conversation with The Ringer colleague J. Kyle Mann, Bill Simmons spoke on his must-listen The Bill Simmons Podcast about how he thinks James may want to proceed.

"There's nobody... that they're going to have enough assets to actually get -- let's say Devin Booker asks out of Phoenix," Simmons floated. "They're not going to have enough picks for him, guess who's going to have to be in the trade? Anthony Davis. So you're going sideways with whatever, or you're going to have to roll the dice with somebody that's like a distressed asset."

Simmons floated an intriguing Western Conference rival as an option as a (possible) future James free agent fit: the Dallas Mavericks (led by All-Star guards Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, the latter of whom memorably won a title with James in 2016).

"This is the first time I could see the finish line for him," Simmons continued. "Dallas I guess would be the team [he might join on a minimum contract to win his fifth title]."

Ultimately, Simmons expressed pessimism concerning a theoretical LA-to-Dallas leap. "It's just weird, I don't see him doing it," he said.

A return to the Eastern Conference, with the Cleveland Cavaliers or the Philadelphia 76ers, was ultimately suggested. Simmons and Mann see both clubs their two most tenable hypothetical fits for the four-time league MVP.

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