Former Los Angeles Lakers guard Danny Green, one of only four players to win an NBA championship with three different teams, was polite as possible this week when questioning the direction of the franchise moving forward with LeBron James at the helm.
James, who has a player-option this summer and hasn’t yet made his decision, is better off elsewhere if the Lakers intend on winning a title in the near future with Luka Doncic to build around, according to Green.
“I think they’re explosive offensively, (but) I think they lack a lot defensively,” Green said this week on “All The Smoke” podcast. “I don’t know how many years he (James) has left longer, and it’s just really hard to win a championship when your best player is 40 years old. Next year, LeBron going to be 41. He can still average 30, 20-something [points] but I just don’t see them winning a championship with that formula right now.”
James is on a two-year, $104 million contract, but his player option ahead of the 2025-26 season means the four-time NBA champion could opt out. He remained efficient as one of the league’s top players this season, averaging 24.4 points, 8.2 assists and 7.8 rebounds per game, but postseason success hasn’t been in the cards for the Lakers with James since the franchise won the NBA title during the 2020 bubble. Los Angeles has been one and done in the first round three of its last four trips to the playoffs and failed to show defensive intensity under first-year coach J.J. Redick this season.
The Lakers have +1700 odds on 2025-26 title futures, per DraftKings, putting them in the bottom half of team chances.
Green first played alongside James with the Cleveland Cavaliers before teaming back up with one of the greatest players of all-time in Los Angeles, which included the pair’s title a few years ago.
Green admitted there was considerable pressure playing with James but cherishes the experiences he’s had learning from the four-time MVP and former No. 1 overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft.
“There are times where it’s not as easy because there’s so much pressure, even if you’re wide open, to execute the play because you’re playing with LeBron James,” Green said. “And that’s more so on the outside than it is on the inside because (LeBron) ain’t putting the pressure on you.
“But all the LeBron fans are like, ‘Who’s this bum? Why is he playing with — he can’t make a damn shot.’ You know what I’m saying? So, it’s a gift and a curse, but he made the game easy, man. And it was a lot of fun learning from him early on, a lot of fun playing against him, and then even better to play with him, and then it was the bubble, but winning the championship with him. It was great, man, so I couldn’t ask for a better scenario.”