LeBron James’ Los Angeles Lakers future is a bit up in the air. It looks like he’ll stay with the team for at least another season, but when his contract is up, he could sign elsewhere.
It remains to be seen where James might want to play. It’s also still possible that the Lakers do enough to convince him to stay in Los Angeles until he retires.
The Denver Nuggets are an interesting team. They won the championship a couple of years ago, but are coming off back-to-back disappointing seasons. Star center Nikola Jokic is arguably the best player in the NBA, and his future has started to come into question recently.
A Jokic-James pairing isn’t something that has been talked about, but it could make some sense. As James is on vacation, he was seen hanging out with Jokic’s agent Miško Ražnatović.
James isn’t considering a change of agency, so it’s certainly interesting that he was hanging out with Ražnatović. That could be for many reasons. It’s hard to imagine it has much to do with the Nuggets. Ražnatović represents Jokic, not Denver. That said, it’s certainly raising some eyebrows, especially with rumors that Jokic may want to join up with Luka Doncic in Los Angeles.
Lakers Have Eyes on 2027
Though James likely isn’t representing the interests of the Lakers anymore, the team can’t be ignored when it comes to Jokic. The superstar big man can be a free agent in 2027.
According to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, the Lakers are operating in a way to save as much money for the 2027 season as they can.
“Though Finney-Smith was a popular locker room figure and helped the Lakers to a 14-6 record in the 20 games he started in the regular season, L.A. exercised discipline in its negotiations to preserve cap space for 2027, when the team expects to have space to sign a max-salary free agent,” McMenamin wrote.
Now, if Jokic signs an extension with Denver before that, then coming to Los Angeles likely wouldn’t be in the cards. The Lakers have to hope that Doncic is trying to pull some strings behind the scenes.
Can Doncic Convince Jokic to Move?
On the surface, the Lakers might be one of the worst fits for Jokic on a personality level. He doesn’t like the bright lights, and there are no brighter lights than Los Angeles.
Denver is a big city, but it’s nothing like Los Angeles. That said, Jokic’s friendship with Doncic is well-noted. The two are very good friends.
The Nuggets haven’t gotten back to the NBA Finals and just made a change at head coach. It’s possible that things go south there quickly. Jokic is already 3o and considering he’s not in the best physical condition, it’s hard to see him having as long of a career as James.
If the Nuggets get knocked out early in the playoffs the next two seasons, and the Lakers are a better team, Doncic could start planting the seeds for Jokic to move. It’s still a long shot, but as the Lakers proved last season, crazier things can happen.
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