Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – NBA superstar LeBron James will return for an unprecedented 24th season but not with the Los Angeles Lakers, a move that rocked the league on Tuesday as free agency opened. Lakers owner Jeanie Buss thanked James in a statement for his eight years with the club, confirming multiple media reports that the 41-year-old superstar had told the team he planned to play elsewhere.
“LeBron James is one of the greatest athletes in history,” Buss wrote in a statement posted on the Lakers’ X account. “We will always be thankful for his eight years with the Lakers — including the title he led us to in 2020 under the toughest imaginable circumstances and the countless records he broke in purple and gold.”
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James’s agent and close friend Rich Paul had told ESPN that James, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, opted to inform the Lakers of his plans to sign with another club before the Tuesday night start of the free agency negotiating period. “King James” became a free agent after the Lakers’ second-round playoff exit but had not yet confirmed that he would indeed continue one of the most extraordinary careers in league history, with four championships and an unmatched collection of individual records.
Even so, he has been linked in recent days with a possible return to Cleveland or Miami — both clubs he led to titles — or with a move to join his close friend Stephen Curry on the Golden State Warriors. James’s record 23rd NBA campaign got off to a rocky start last year as he missed the first month of the season because of sciatica. Once fit, he again proved remarkably effective, shooting 51.5% from the field as he averaged 20.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 7.2 assists in the regular season.
In the playoffs, he averaged 23.2 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 7.3 assists, and led the Lakers to a first-round series victory over the Houston Rockets despite the absence of star teammate Luka Doncic, who was sidelined with a hamstring strain. James had helped push the Lakers to the fourth seed in the Western Conference, despite the late-season injuries to Doncic and key contributor Austin Reaves. After beating the Rockets, the Lakers fell to the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder in the second round.
James said in the wake of that exit that he was proud of a season in which he was “put into positions I never played in my career” as he accepted a reduced role alongside Doncic. Doncic, 27 and acknowledged as the new lynchpin of the Lakers after his arrival in February 2025, offered his own farewell to James on Instagram with a photo captioned “An honor to play with and learn from you ‘King James.'”
James’s tenure with the Lakers included the 2020 NBA title, in a post-season played in a Covid “bubble,” and a victory in the inaugural NBA in-season tournament. It was with the Lakers that he broke the league’s all-time scoring record, surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s previous mark of 38,387 points in a game on February 7, 2023. He also realized his long-cherished dream of playing alongside his son, Bronny James, after the Lakers selected him in the second round of the 2024 NBA draft.
“We wish him all the best in the future, both on the court and off,” Buss said. “He will always be a cherished part of the Lakers family.”
© 2024 AFP
