Former NBA star Paul Pierce believes the Los Angeles Lakers should move on from LeBron James.
Pierce thinks the Lakers should build around Luka Doncic, who is 26 years old.
James is 40 years old. He’s the oldest active player in the NBA.
“If the Lakers want to get back to a championship contender moving forward, you have to get out of the constraints of the LeBron James era,” Pierce said on FS1’s Speak. “He’s had a grasp of the whole organization, bear-hugging them, for so long now. He’s done some wonderful things for the Lakers organization. They’re probably gonna build a statue of LeBron.
“But I’m just saying, they have to say, ‘Bron, we appreciate your services, I think we should move on.’ It’s time for the Luka era now, ’cause I don’t know if you can play them together moving forward. You have to have a certain kind of team around Luka to win. And him with LeBron, you won’t be able to create that.”
The Lakers lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the 2025 playoffs in five games. James suffered a Grade 2 MCL sprain in his left knee in Game 5.
The leading scorer in NBA history, James joined the Lakers in 2018. Los Angeles missed the playoffs in 2019, won the championship 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.
“You don’t know what the (Lakers) roster will look like next year besides the guys that (are) locked into contracts,” James said after Game 5. “S—, I got a lot to think about myself. So I don’t know what the roster will look like. I don’t know where I stand right now.”
James has a player option for next season. He’s not expected to retire.
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