After determining that he won’t return to the Lakers, LeBron James (and/or his representatives) will talk to multiple teams after the free agent period begins later today, according to Ramona Shelburne of ESPN (Twitter link), who hears from a source close to the process that there will be “no rush” for him to decide on his next team.
Like Draymond Green in Golden State, James Harden is expected to re-sign with the Cavaliers after turning down a 2026/27 player option, but it waiting to see if his team needs additional flexibility to make a move like signing James, reports Joe Vardon of The Athletic.
Unless Harden takes a very steep discount, the Cavs – the NBA’s only second-apron team in 2025/26 – are expected to need to shed some additional salary in order to offer James more than a minimum-salary contract and to have a chance to re-sign any of their own key free agents, including Dean Wade and Keon Ellis. To that end, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com confirms that the club has explored the possibility of trading Max Strus, who has an expiring $16.66MM contract, and/or Dennis Schröder, who will earn $14.81MM in the second season of a three-year deal.
Here are a few more free agent rumors from around the NBA, with players prepared to begin negotiating with rival suitors as of 5:00 pm Central time:
- Multiple reporters, including Grant Afseth of Dallas Hoops Journal, Marc Stein and Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Twitter link), and Dan Woike of The Athletic, identify swingman Quentin Grimes as one of the Lakers‘ top targets. While Los Angeles will have upwards of $50MM of cap room available, it’s unclear how much of that space the team would be willing to commit to Grimes, given that adding an impact center is also a priority in L.A.
- Big man Moritz Wagner is among the Nets‘ potential targets in free agency, sources tell Ian Begley of SNY.tv. While Brooklyn reportedly wants to give Day’Ron Sharpe an expanded role after trading away Nic Claxton, the team remains in the market for frontcourt help, having been linked to multiple centers in recent days, including Mitchell Robinson.
- Sharpshooter Luke Kennard is very much on the Suns‘ radar entering free agency, according to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter link) and Afseth. Confirming Phoenix’s interest, Woike writes that the Lakers remain interested in re-signing Kennard as well.
