LeBron to Nuggets rumors heating up after cryptic, viral social media post

The basketball world has gone crazy after a viral social media post showed LeBron James, Maverick Carter, and Miško Ražnatović hanging out on a yacht together. Ražnatović, one of the most powerful agents in European basketball, who happens to represent Nikola Jokic among others, captioned the photo, “The Summer of 2025 is the perfect time to make big plans for the fall of 2026.”

The picture and caption went haywire, causing the NBA’s rumor mill to light up. There is already so much daily drama with LeBron’s Lakers situation; now, this just adds another layer of intrigue to the saga.

It is becoming clearer by the day that the Lakers are ready to move on from James at the end of this season, once his contract expires, to focus on building around the younger Luka Doncic. James, however, has shown no indication that this will be his final season, and last we saw him, he’s still playing at an All-NBA level.

Could LeBron be plotting to join Nuggets?

Seeing as Ražnatović represents Jokic, the natural conclusion that people jumped to is that James is angling to play with the Joker in Denver in the 2026-27 season. After all, the fall of 2026 would be when the following season begins, the date alluded to in the caption.

James will be a true unrestricted free agent and will have the final say in where he plays. There’s a lot that will go into that decision, but at this point in his career, he has made enough money that he could sign with any team for the minimum or the MLE if he just wants to win.

And if that’s the case, there’s no better spot he could pick than Denver. James could take a backseat and defer the heavy lifting to Jokic while picking his spots on offense and defense. Adding a basketball savant like James, even at his advanced age, on that kind of deal, would just propel the Nuggets to another level, and barring some unforeseen issues this season, that team would likely be favorites to win it all.

Caption was likely unrelated to NBA

As fun as it is to connect dots and get excited, chances are, this meeting had nothing to do with LeBron’s NBA future. Jokic is certainly Ražnatović’s most high-profile client, but the man runs an entire agency and has a lot of business going on in Europe.

He was likely meeting with James and Carter to discuss new international business ventures in Europe. They probably have nothing to do with James, the player, at all. If he wants to join the Nuggets next season, that’s in play. But why would he have to meet with Jokic’s agent a year in advance to make that happen? 

I don’t want to stop the dreamers and conspiracy theorists from having their fun, so have at it. We don’t know exactly what happened and what was discussed. Maybe this is step one in a lucrative partnership between James and Jokic in Denver. But I, for one, will believe it when I see it.