Superstar forward LeBron James has been with the Los Angeles Lakers for seven seasons now, and they have been consistent playoff contenders with him on the team. Los Angeles has qualified for the playoffs in five of his seven campaigns with the storied franchise.
The Lakers have made more than one deep playoff run with James spearheading the team as well. First, the Lakers won an NBA title in 2020. More recently, they made a surprise run to the 2023 Western Conference Finals as the No. 7 seed in the conference.
However, in light of James’ Lakers losing to the Minnesota Timberwolves in decisive fashion in the opening round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs, former NBA guard Rashad McCants is of the belief that Los Angeles should move on from the 40-year-old.
“100% get rid of LeBron, bring in some young assets,” McCants said in an exclusive interview with Basketball Insiders. “He still has enough energy to go out there and warrant some good players for him. You get rid of GM Rob Pelinka, you might have to move Austin Reaves. You really might have to really start over completely, because Luka [Doncic] is uncertain whether he’s even going to re-sign.”
He argued that the Lakers keeping James in the fold will keep other superstar players from joining one of the more marquee organizations in all of sports.
“You don’t want to build around LeBron still being there, holding up other superstars from coming,” said McCants. “The best scenario is to start fresh. If you’re going to start fresh with Luka, the first thing you need to do is get enough pieces defensively that’s going to help.”
McCants continued to argue that it’s time for the Lakers to move on from the veteran.
“They have to, because the nostalgia of the storyline is depleted,” said McCants. “The Disney storyline of father-son, all the points in the world, all that s— is played out. At this point now where we’re looking at, where do the Lakers go after the circus is over? Now that the circus is over, you either have to start over, or you have to bring in new lions and tigers and bears in. They don’t have a pick, they don’t have assets that can be moved that can get quality players. They’re kind of stuck.”
Whether or not the Lakers should consider parting ways with arguably the best player in the history of the NBA perhaps depends on what Los Angeles’ goals are for next season.
If the mission is to win now, then it’s difficult to believe that trading an all-time great playoff performer such as James would help the Lakers do that. Moreover, considering his age, it seems hard to believe that Los Angeles would receive satisfactory value back in a trade for a player of his caliber.
This is assuming that a trade would even be possible, which would require the cooperation of James (and the continuation of his NBA career).
Conversely, if contending for a title isn’t the team’s top priority and it wants to begin building for the future around Doncic, moving on from James and trying to get the most assets out of him would make sense. It would also open the door for the Lakers to give Doncic a younger running mate.
James’ future in Los Angeles is slightly murky after the team’s recent first-round exit, and it should be interesting to find out what decisions he makes about his NBA career in the near future.
