There's plenty at stake in this round-one series between the Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets, but LeBron James' free-agent decision likely won't be influenced by whether the Lakers advance.
Various signs suggest James has already made up his mind that he'd like to return to LA in 2026-27. And he may have come to that decision this past March, according to a new piece from Dan Woike and Sam Amick of The Athletic.
Citing a league source, Woike and Amick suggested that the Lakers' incredibly successful March (15-2 in the month) may have convinced LeBron that LA can legitimately contend moving forward.
"The stretch [in March] also could’ve opened James’ eyes to the potential of significant on-court success again in Los Angeles, a league source said," Woike and Amick wrote. "Winning, the source added, is what makes James happiest in a basketball context, and March showed that the Lakers not only could be a winning team but one that won playing the right way."
LeBron likely believes the Lakers can be a contender next season
We can all piece together the non-basketball reasons that James would want to stay in Los Angeles for the rest of his NBA career (a reality that has Clippers fans dreaming): LeBron's entire family life is based in LA, and his son plays for the Lakers.
But the Lakers might now provide LeBron with sufficient basketball reasons to want to stay, more so than we would've assumed earlier in the season, when things weren't clicking yet for LA and LeBron looked like the odd man out on a team with three first options.
In March, everything came together, and the Lakers operated as a well-oiled machine. A large part of that success was that James embraced the role of being the Lakers' third option. This unleashed Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves and had a trickle-down effect on the entire roster. LA had finally arrived at peak chemistry.
It's a chemistry and culture of teamwork that has carried into the postseason through 48 minutes of action, even with Doncic and Reaves sidelined. The Lakers delivered a locked-in, group effort on Saturday night that allowed them to vanquish the Rockets in Game 1.
LeBron's team-first mentality surfaced right away in the game, with James tallying eight assists in the first quarter, looking like Magic Johnson in Karl Malone's body (create-a-player type stuff).
A round one loss shouldn't make LeBron feel differently about Lakers
In four quarters, LeBron and the Lakers made their fans believe that they can and will win this series. But it's still just one game, and Kevin Durant was in street clothes on Saturday. The tables might get turned on this series in a hurry if KD goes vintage mode when he returns, and/or if 41-year-old LeBron and a shorthanded Lakers squad simply run out of energy as the 7-game set reaches its later stages.
But even if the Lakers fall short of a series win, that doesn't seem likely to have any influence on LeBron's opinion of this franchise's chances in 2026-27. The Lakers solidified something crucial to a championship in March: A team-first culture. And that culture could carry them to great heights next season once a healthy Luka and AR are back in the fold.
Add us as a preferred source on Google