What else can James choose besides retiring? ESPN revealed 4 possibilities: Sign for 3 years and 188 million to play until the age of 45

What else can James choose besides retiring at the age of 41? The authoritative American media ESPN revealed 4 possibilities, including signing a three-year, $188 million contract extension until the age of 45 before retiring.

Option 1: Retire after playing for the Lakers in the new season

If you look at the data purely, James' performance does not seem to decline significantly with age. However, since joining the Lakers, James has been plagued by injuries and missed a total of 124 games in the past 7 seasons. Before joining the Lakers, James only missed 71 games in 15 seasons.

Before the arrival of the new season, James suffered from sciatica again and is expected to miss at least the first 3-4 weeks of the season. No matter how self-disciplined James is, he will not be able to withstand the attack of Time.

At the same time, in terms of personal achievements, James has won 4 championships, 4 FMVPs, and 4 MVPs. At the same time, he surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar last season to become the first scorer in NBA history, and he also fulfilled his wish to perform on the same stage as father and son with his son Bronny. He seems to have no regrets, and it is time to draw a successful conclusion to his legendary career.

The Lakers are obviously ready for this. As early as the new season press conference, Pelinka publicly stated that everyone on the Lakers is willing to see James end his career as a Laker player.

Coincidentally, the last away game of the Lakers regular season in the new season happens to be a trip to Golden State to challenge the Warriors led by their old rival Curry.

In addition, Kobe has successfully held a retirement tour with the Lakers. Therefore, in terms of experience, attention, legend and exposure, retiring as a Laker player in the new season is a good choice.

Option 2: Leave the team with a mid-season buyout or trade

After executing the $56.2 million player option to stay with the team during the offseason, James' agent Rich Paul issued an open letter through the famous reporter Shams, pressuring the Lakers to strengthen, and made it clear that James hopes to continue to win in the new season and compete for the championship now.

As a result, the Lakers management ignored James' needs and instead met Doncic's various reinforcement requirements, which was obviously an attempt to complete the replacement of the old and the new.

If the Lakers have a poor record in the new season, leaving the team through trade or buyout in the middle of the season will be a reasonable choice for James to continue to compete for the championship. Especially if he returns to the Cavaliers after the buyout, or goes to the Mavericks to reunite with Irving and Brother Big Eyebrow, James will immediately return to the first echelon of the championship.

Option 3: At the end of the 25-26 season, sign with another team as a free agent

If James is unwilling to buy out and the transaction is too difficult, then after the end of the 25-26 season contract, he will return to free agency and have the qualifications to re-select his next team, and he can control the size of his newly signed contract to increase the possibility of competing for the championship.

Coupled with the fact that more teams will have salary space in 2026, including big-market teams such as the Nets, Clippers and Bulls, it is entirely possible that James will try to lead four different teams to win the championship.

Option 4: Renew the contract with the Lakers after the 25-26 season

Compared to re-selecting his next club, for the aging James, staying with the familiar Lakers is obviously a better choice, especially when Doncic joins and has lost weight and is expected to perform the best in his career.

According to calculations by ESPN salary expert Bobby Marks, the Lakers will free up more than $50 million in salary space in the summer of 2026, just enough to provide James with a three-year maximum salary contract worth $188 million.

If James signs such a contract, it means that he will play until the age of 45. Not only will he be able to witness Bronny end his rookie contract, but he will also be able to witness his younger son Bryce also log into the NBA, and there may even be a good show of father and son playing on the same stage.