Will LeBron James leave L.A. to chase another ring?
Could LeBron James be leaving the City of Angels in the near future?
According to retired NBA forward Charles Oakley, he's confident that the 18-time All-Star will leave the Los Angeles Lakers to chase another championship ring.
"You know LeBron, his legacy right now is he definitely wants to win a championship before he retires," Oakley said during an appearance on SiriusXM NBA Radio. "He might leave LA to get it. I don't know if it will be Cleveland, could be somewhere else."
The Lakers, who are less than two years removed from winning the 2020 NBA title, currently hold a lackluster 25-27 record through 52 games in the 2021-22 season.
The franchise is also largely limited in what it can do to improve the roster in the coming years, as the bulk of its money is tied into James and fellow veterans Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook. Despite 53 All-Star appearances among them, the Lakers are in ninth place in the Western Conference, three games below .500.
After signing a two-year $85.7 million dollar contract extension in 2020, James is under contract with the Lakers through the 2022-23 season. He will be an unrestricted free agent in the 2023 offseason.
But Shannon Sharpe isn't convinced that the King will leave L.A. when that time comes.
"I believe the Lakers will try to get off Russ this offseason," he said. "The Kareem record, sure [James] wants that, but he wants to be able to contend and compete for a title in the process of going for that record. And if that's not in L.A., he does have one more year on his contract.
"He might have to take his show on the road. And that's what you do."
James is 1,974 points away from claiming the NBA's all-time scoring record held by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who scored 38,387 points in 20 seasons, and 515 points from moving into second place ahead of Karl Malone's 36,928 points. James, in his 19th season, is eyeing etching his name in the record books once again.
