LeBron James Reveals Why He Won’t Convince Luka Doncic To Stay With Lakers

LeBron James will not convince Luka Doncic to stay with the Los Angeles Lakers. 

Los Angeles can sign Doncic to a four-year, $229 million contract in August. Doncic will make $46 million next season. He has a player option worth $48.9 million for the 2026-27 season. 

“No, that ain’t my job,” James told ESPN. “I think … I don’t think, I know, Luka knows how I feel about him. And ultimately, that trade happened for the future. That’s not for me. Luka has to decide what he has to do with his future. He’s [26] years old, I’m 40, so he can’t be basing his career off me. That’s just real.

“But I hope, obviously, [he stays long term]. Laker fans f—ing love him here. L.A. has accepted him. We love him as a teammate, as a brother. But ultimately, he’s got to make a decision for him. S—, I ain’t going to be around much longer.”

James, 40, has a player option for next season. He can become a free agent this summer by declining his 2025-26 player option. 

The Lakers lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the 2025 playoffs in five games. Doncic and James played well offensively, but Los Angeles had no answers on defense for Anthony Edwards, Julius Randle and Rudy Gobert. 

“Gobert looked like Shaq,” a team source told ESPN.

Doncic averaged 28.2 points, 8.1 rebounds and 7.5 assists with the Lakers in the regular season. The future Hall of Famer then put up 30.2 points, 7.0 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game in the Timberwolves series.

The leading scorer of all time, James averaged 24.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 8.2 assists during the 2024-25 regular season. He turns 41 in December. 

James joined the Lakers in 2018. Los Angeles missed the playoffs in 2019, won the title in 2020, lost in the first round of the 2021 playoffs, missed the playoffs in 2022, lost in the conference finals in 2023 and lost in the first round of the 2024 and 2025 playoffs.