From the moment the trade happened, most could see Los Angeles shifted its timeline by swapping Anthony Davis for Luka Dončić. Dončić is six years younger than Davis, and more importantly, AD's departure exacerbated one of the team's biggest issues. L.A.'s lack of interior protection was exposed again and again by Minnesota.

Once again, LeBron James is publicly non-committal about his immediate future with the Lakers after they got knocked out of the playoffs.

The Los Angeles Lakers reportedly expect star forward LeBron James to return to the team for the 2025-26 season according to reports. In an interview on The Pat McAfee Show, ESPN Insider Shams Charania says that reports from the Lakers is that there is an internal “understanding that James will return,