A year ago at around this time, LeBron James offered to take a substantial pay cut to help the Los Angeles Lakers build a championship contender. “He is prioritizing a roster improvement,” his agent, Rich Paul, told ESPN at the time. “He’s been adamant about exuding all efforts to improve the roster.” James gave the Lakers a list of targets he would give up money — perhaps as much as $15 million — to help them pursue. The one they chose to go after was Klay Thompson. They missed, so James took slightly less than the max to help the Lakers duck the second apron. In that deal, he got a no-trade clause and a player option for the 2025-26 season.

He exercised that option on Sunday, but the tone coming from Paul was decidedly different. “LeBron wants to compete for a championship,” Paul told ESPN. “He knows the Lakers are building for the future. He understands that, but he values a realistic chance of winning it all. We are very appreciative of the partnership that we’ve had for eight years with Jeanie [Buss] and Rob [Pelinka] and consider the Lakers as a critical part of his career.” James wants to compete for the 2026 championship, but is uncertain about the Lakers’ roster, according to ESPN.

And, well, he has every reason to be. The Lakers finished last season without a center. Key role player Dorian Finney-Smith opted out of his contract on Sunday and could leave for nothing in free agency. The Lakers have been linked to big names on the trade market like Walker Kessler and Andrew Wiggins, but have thus far failed to complete a deal. Yes, they do have Luka Dončić, but as we saw in their first-round drubbing at the hands of the Minnesota Timberwolves, the two of them alone are not enough to meaningfully contend for the title.

Dončić, though inadvertently, is at the center of this brewing disconnect between James and the Lakers. For six years, James was the star the Lakers orbited around. They signed players represented by his agency, Klutch Sports. When he wanted them to trade for Anthony Davis, they traded for Anthony Davis. When he wanted them to trade for Russell Westbrook, they traded for Russell Westbrook. When he wanted them to draft his son, they drafted his son. Everything revolved around him and his timeline because, to put it in the simplest possible terms, he was the star who saved them from their post-Kobe Bryant misery. They had no other real choice.

LeBron James picks up $52.6 million player option to remain with Lakers for eighth season, per report Sam Quinn

But that isn’t the case anymore. James is 40. Dončić is 26. Even if the two could compete for the 2026 championship together, doing so would require an enormous expenditure of long-term resources. They’d have to trade their 2031 first-round pick and re-sign 32-year-old Finney-Smith for multiple years and use every roster-building resource at their disposal. A year ago, James was seemingly eager to help them do that. He was willing to take a pay cut to get that player option on the second year and help the Lakers build a roster.

This time, however, there was no pay cut. James took his money and, while we don’t know this for certain, it’s not especially hard to figure out why. The Lakers are currently positioned for max cap space in the summer of 2026. That cap space is contingent on James not being on their roster at anything close to his current price. If James had taken a pay cut to help the roster-building process this year, he surely would have demanded a player option for next year that the Lakers don’t seem all that eager to give. After all, if they were willing to commit long-term money to older players right now, they seemingly would have extended Finney-Smith before free agency, right?

That put James in a difficult position. The Lakers are, justifiably, preparing for a future that doesn’t involve him. Paul himself acknowledged that in his quote, but James and the team do not necessarily have the same priorities. He could have helped the team anyway by taking a pay cut this season to help them, but he would have gained nothing materially if he’d done so. Would his championship odds in Los Angeles have increased?

Maybe slightly. If Finney-Smith were staying, for instance, James could have saved the Lakers enough money to use the full mid-level exception instead of the smaller taxpayer version. But if the Lakers are willing to let Finney-Smith walk in free agency, and if they’re hoarding their future draft capital rather than trading it, would that flexibility have really meant much to James? Probably not. It might have been the difference between losing in the first round or the second.

For the Lakers, that might be an acceptable outcome. The goal is no longer just 2026. It’s 2027 and beyond. That cap space is a chance to reshape the roster drastically. The most notable target for it would be Jaren Jackson Jr., a defensive star who would pair perfectly with the more offensively inclined Dončić. The Grizzlies can renegotiate and extend him this offseason, but doing so would require cap space that they have not yet cleared out. If they don’t do so, or if Jackson indicates he would prefer not to extend even if he could, he becomes the obvious focus of this Laker cap space.

Even if Jackson isn’t available, cap space is more than just a tool for free agency. It can be used to make unbalanced trades or take in contracts other teams don’t want. It’s flexibility, and that’s seemingly what the Lakers are prioritizing in a world in which they might let the older 3-and-D wing who saved their season leave in free agency without a clear plan for replacing him. Flexibility is extremely important in building a roster. It just isn’t what should matter to James, a player who may well be entering his final NBA season.

This paints the picture of a team and a player with fundamentally incompatible priorities. James wants to win now. The Lakers want to win later. The two sides could very easily table that disagreement, play out the season, and then part ways amicably after the year. James could be a 2026 free agent and sign with the team of his choosing to pursue that elusive fifth championship. He could also stay with the Lakers at a significantly reduced salary. All of this is in play depending on how the summer and the year plays out. But we also have to acknowledge the possibility of James operating on a shorter timeline. If he wants to win here and now and the Lakers aren’t prepared to invest in doing so, is there another team that would?

Cue the “Coming Home” montages, folks, because Cleveland certainly feels like that team. The Cavaliers are fully in win-now mode. They’ve blown past the second apron and are currently in line for a payroll of roughly $400 million. They just won 64 games and are in an Eastern Conference that has been decimated by injuries before the season has even begun. They have an absolutely perfect opportunity to win in the next year or two while the Celtics and Pacers regroup. James, even now, would probably still be the best player on their team. The cap math in such a move would be tricky. They’d have to get below the second apron to make it legally feasible, which would mean saving around $20 million. But, as we learn most offseasons, when two parties are motivated enough, the math is almost always solvable.

Or perhaps this could finally be the moment in which James, after more than a decade of teasing, elects to take his talents to Broadway and become a New York Knick. Leon Rose has shown a willingness to make aggressive and unconventional moves in the past. It’s unclear to what he extent he ever seriously pursued Kevin Durant, but there was reporting of mutual interest at the trade deadline. Mikal Bridges and Mitchell Robinson both check obvious boxes for a Laker team in need of defense around Dončić. Rose and Paul, former partners turned enemies, have seemingly buried the hatchet. James did some very obvious flirting with New York during the 2023-24 season as he angled for the Lakers to upgrade their roster.

The Golden State Warriors tried to trade for James at the 2024 deadline. He told them no thank you. Would he reconsider now, especially after having had the experience of playing with Stephen Curry at the 2024 Olympics in Paris? Winning out of the Western Conference would be far more difficult than doing so in Cleveland or New York, but he has such a well-known respect for Golden State that he may consider it feasible. The Lakers likely wouldn’t want Jimmy Butler’s contract because it extends through the 2026-27 season. Perhaps there is a three-way solution.

There’s admittedly some intangible value for James and the Lakers in seeing this thing through to the end. James likely doesn’t want to give his detractors more room to criticize him for team-hopping. The Lakers would likely love to cash in on the publicity and demand surrounding a James retirement tour. Even in their illustrious history, he is the greatest player who has ever worn their uniform. Their history suggests that they want him to be associated with them as much as possible.

But should intangible value really stand in the way of tangible benefits? James still has significant trade value right now. If the Lakers aren’t thinking primarily about 2026, it makes little sense to keep an asset whose value may disappear completely by 2026. He could be the key to refilling their coffers enough to build around Dončić properly. If the two are operating on different timelines, they aren’t even really competing with one another. James can win now. The Lakers can win later.

For now, this is all speculation. James has not asked to be traded. The Lakers have not signaled a willingness to trade him. But based on the way the 2025 offseason has gone thus far, it is becoming increasingly clear that the partnership Paul himself cited no longer makes sense for either of the involved parties. After all, Paul called the Lakers a “critical part” of James’ career. He did not say they are where he plans to end it.