People close to LeBron James felt the Los Angeles Lakers were never genuinely interested in bringing him back, despite president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka claiming otherwise during an end-of-season press conference.

James and the Lakers never met in the lead up to free agency. There were reports that James was prepared to take a significant reduction in his salary if the Lakers presented a plan of how they were going to approach improving their roster.

During the 2025 offseason, it appeared to be a near certainty that James would be leaving the Lakers by the 2026 offseason. But James eventually settled into a very productive tertiary role with the Lakers behind Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves. The role changed back to the primary role in the playoffs against the Houston Rockets when Doncic and Reaves were both injured. James later said he thought he was prepared to retire this offseason when the Lakers were eliminated by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the second round.

Instead of letting the situation drag out into the offseason, Shams Charania reported on June 30th that James informed the Lakers he would exit the franchise and consider other options in free agency.

James signed with the Philadelphia 76ers after also considering the Miami Heat, Cleveland Cavaliers, Golden State Warriors, Minnesota Timberwolves and Denver Nuggets.

"He didn't take the easy way," a Sixers source told ESPN. "He's comfortable being uncomfortable. Which a lot of people aren't."