Gary Payton Predicts LeBron James Will Play “One Or Two More Years” in NBA
Gary Payton believes LeBron James will return for another year.
Payton is best known for his long career (1990-2003) with the Seattle Supersonics, where he led the team to the 1996 NBA Finals and became the first point guard to win the Defensive Player of the Year award.
However, the Hall of Fame point guard did spend time with the Los Angeles Lakers, helping lead the 2003-04 squad to the NBA Finals. The 57-year-old said James will continue to play as long as he feels “he can still dominate.”
“I think he’s going to do one more year,” said Payton in a one-on-one interview with R.org. “I think LeBron — because I know about his ego — he has to really feel that he can’t play in this league anymore. I don’t think he feels that way. I think he feels he can still dominate. But what the things that he does with his body is a lot different because what he does with his body is he takes care of it. Once he starts feeling it, I don’t think he’s going to let himself go down. I don’t think he’ll let himself be looking like a fool or anything.”
James is the oldest player in the league at 41 years old, but is coming off his 22nd All-Star appearance. He ended the 2025-26 regular season averaging 20.9 points, 7.2 assists, and 6.1 rebounds per game on 51.5% from the field. In other words, he’s still playing at a high level.
The four-time MVP will be a free agent this offseason and has yet to commit to whether or not he’ll play next season. Payton believes that there’s no question that James will be play for the Lakers if he continues his career.
“I think he’s got about one or two more years left in his body,” said Payton of James. “I don’t think he wants to move anywhere. People talking about where he’s going to end up. That’s not what LeBron is about right now. I think it’s about comfortability, about how his daughter — which is the only one still left in the house — and how his wife wants to be. I don’t think they want to be in the cold. I think they think they’re very comfortable in Los Angeles and that’s where they’re going to be. I think he’s going to stay here and try to work something out with the Lakers.”
Payton Backing LA to Beat Houston
Making matters even more impressive is that James — without Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves — recently led the Lakers to a 1-0 series lead over the Houston Rockets. James notched eight assists in the first quarter alone, which is a new career high for assists in a single quarter in his playoff career.
The four-time NBA champion finished the night with 19 points and 13 assists while role player Luke Kennard scored 27 points to lead the Lakers. Payton believes it’ll be Los Angeles — not Houston — that wins the series. Kevin Durant missed Game 1 due to a knee bruise and will be a game-time decision for Game 2.
The Lakers actually won two of three meetings in the regular season, including both in Houston in March.
“That series right there is real, really matched up,” said Payton. “People didn’t understand at the end of the year when they were fighting for that four or five spot to see who can get home court advantage, the Lakers beat them. They beat them with Durant and everything. LeBron took over and had a triple double. Their team is built like that, even without Luka and without Raeves at play.
“What happens is that all the players play around LeBron, and they all play together like his teams in Cleveland,” Payton continued. “Everybody is now circulating it, and there’s not a ball stoppage where one person looks at one person, and let’s look at him just play. I think it goes around and everybody gets an opportunity to play the game, and that’s why they’re so effective right now. I think that’s why they’re effective.”
Payton feels that with the Lakers stealing home court advantage with their Game 1 win in Houston, it’s their series even if Durant returns at some point.
“You look at the game the other day, LeBron only had like, eight, nine, or 10 points in the third quarter, and then he started picking it up,” said Payton. “And then everybody started playing, and they still were leading the game. I think with this, it’s going to be a battle. I think it might go to six games, and I think LA’s got the advantage they want. They took the first one. All you gotta do is hold home court if they win this next one, and let Houston go back and see what happens with Durant coming back. We’ll see what goes on. But if you hold home court advantage, you win the series. I think the Lakers got that advantage. They didn’t let them take Game 1 to take it away from them, and they gotta win Game 2.”
LeBron Setting the Tone
Payton once again hammers home that everybody on the Lakers is “playing their role.” He said the more Kennard shoots, the more he gets into a rhythm.
“The simple fact is how they play — I’m saying everybody’s playing their role right now,” said Payton. “If you see it, if you see Kennard, if he hits shots like he did that other night, he was five-for-five from the three-point line, and he had almost 30 points. He’s one of the best three-point shooters ever to play in the game if you get him in the rhythm and keep it right, and then run plays for him, his confidence goes up to here.”
The longtime NBA point guard gives major props to James for playing at the level that he’s playing at at his age.
“And then you got LeBron, who’s doing his thing — the 41-year-old doing what he does is amazing to me,” said Payton. “If he could keep doing that, you’re getting triple doubles. He’s averaging 22 points with 12 or 14 assists and then nine rebounds. You have a leader, and you have a person who’s going to make big-time shots. I think a lot of them players, you got Marcus Smart coming off the bench, doing what he does. These guys can do it, but without Durant, I don’t think Houston has a chance of beating the Lakers.”
West Finals Are Lakers’ Ceiling
While Payton is high on this series for the Lakers against the Rockets, he believes their ceiling is probably the Western Conference Finals. He doesn’t believe they can get past the Oklahoma City Thunder or San Antonio Spurs to get to the NBA Finals.
Reaves will likely be sidelined through the first round due to an oblique strain, while Doncic is still a question mark due to a hamstring strain. However, Doncic recently returned to the practice court, leaving optimism that he can soon return.
“I think they can make a lot of noise,” said Payton of the Lakers. “I don’t know if they can deal with Oklahoma and San Antonio, I think it’ll be a great series against San Antonio. I think Oklahoma would be a little bit different for them. But I really do think that they can go to the Western Conference Finals and upset one of them teams if they really had all three of them guys, especially at a high rate, because they have three guys who can score 20 or more points and get very effective and especially with LeBron, who can get rebounds, who can get assists like Jokic in Denver,that’s why he makes his teams so well, because he’s got a triple double.
“He just had a triple double and they had no problem with Minnesota the other night,” Payton continued. “I’m saying LeBron is doing the same thing. I think if they had all three of them, they’d be a real threat and to go really deep in the playoffs. I don’t know what’s going to happen now. I don’t know if LeBron will wear down and people will wear him down, but the other young kids gotta step up. But they started off well, they beat them in Houston. Let’s see what happens in the first round.”