Report: Lakers Expected LeBron to Request New Contract This Summer Before Luka Trade

The Los Angeles Lakers suddenly got much younger late Saturday night when ESPN's Shams Charania reported they acquired 25-year-old Luka Dončić in a three-team trade that also sent 31-year-old Anthony Davis to the Dallas Mavericks.

And it is natural to speculate what that means for 40-year-old LeBron James.

"James has a player option for next season worth $52.6 million, but the internal expectation before this trade was that he'd be requesting another extension when the summer rolled around," Sam Amick of The Athletic reported. "Even before this deal, it was unclear whether his desires would be met.

"And the question now, with the dynamics so drastically changed and Dončić arriving as the indisputable alpha-male in Laker Land, is this: Might this be James' last season with the Lakers?"

There are a few different things that could realistically happen with James.

For one, he is 40 years old and could choose to retire after arguably the greatest career in NBA history. He has been very open this season talking about how he knows there isn't a lot of time left in his career, and he could decide to finally hang up the sneakers after 22 seasons.

But that player option is quite a lot of money, and his son, Bronny, is also on the Lakers. Perhaps he will decide to exercise the option and play out the last season of his contract before going into retirement.

A third option would be declining it and going elsewhere. Maybe he decides that he wants to retire with the Cleveland Cavaliers, which is the franchise from his home state that drafted him and the one he is likely most closely associated with among NBA fans.

This all may depend on his on-court fit with Dončić and how the Lakers play down the stretch and into the postseason.

After all, Dončić's 31.9 percent usage rate is sixth in the league among those who have played at least 20 games, per NBA.com. James isn't that far behind at 29.2, so there will clearly need to be some type of adjustment from one or both stars if this is going to work out.

They are both excellent passers, though, and could make each other even better than they are by taking advantage of the spacing that comes with the double teams they both face.

Such a roster construction could motivate James to play another season with the Lakers, even if it is clear Dončić is the long-term face of the franchise at this point given his age.

How this all works out and impacts James' long-term future both with the Lakers and in the league as a whole will be a fascinating subplot as Los Angeles eyes a deep playoff run in the Western Conference with its new star.