The gap between the old king! 40-year-old James is embarrassed to stay at the Lakers, and there is no way back to the Cavaliers

James chose to execute the 52.6 million player option next season. He did not choose to cut his salary, and the Lakers did not take the initiative to provide a long-term contract. This shows that the Lakers, who have just changed hands, have confirmed that they have begun the Doncic era, and James can leave if he wants.

In August 2025, the Lakers will complete a four-year maximum salary renewal of 229 million yuan with Doncic. The handsome Reeves is also willing to continue to cooperate with the Lakers next offseason and is expected to sign a four-year and 120 million yuan long contract.

As for James, he is no longer within the Lakers' plan, and he can't even plan a retirement tour. After all, Doncic is the new king of this team. How could the management please the old king?

Perhaps what the Lakers management is more looking forward to is that 40-year-old James can take the initiative to propose a deal so that they can go with the flow and also use the remaining value of James to exchange for high-quality players or draft assets.

Jack James, next season will be the 23rd year of his career, and he will also feel the gap for the first time: although he can still score 24.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, 8.2 assists, he has lost his dominance and needs to adapt to Doncic's rhythm and even give up part of the ball.

In fact, James' return to Cleveland may be an excellent choice.

Judging from the current situation, the East is still weak, with Celtics' Tatum and Pacers' Halliburton both suffering from Achilles tendon tear. These two strong teams will withdraw from the championship ranks next season, and the most powerful winner is the Cavaliers in the East in the regular season this season.

Therefore, if James returns to the Cavaliers, his fifth championship in his career will be easily won next season.

However, the Cavaliers boss doesn't think so.

Because this season, they have formed a perfect team to win the championship. If Garland had not been injured, the Cavaliers would have entered the finals, and they might have won the championship.

We all know that the Cavaliers' first championship was brought by James in 2016.

But the Cavaliers boss always wanted to win the second championship without Zhan. Mitchell and Garland, the core team of the team, also said this season: "We are eager to do without James' Cavaliers to win the championship." The Gemini of the team's team is able to express this publicly, which shows that the management often promotes this concept.

The Cavaliers now only need to maintain their existing lineup and start a championship again next season. When James returns, they do not have this idea, and they do not want to break up the existing lineup in order to welcome James back.

So, James is in a bad situation now. It is embarrassing to stay the Lakers, and there is no way back to the Cavaliers.