While there is a growing belief that LeBron James will not ask the Los Angeles Lakers to trade him or buy out his contract, at least before training camp starts, the question of how much longer he will play in the NBA remains.

He decided to exercise his player option for this coming season, which means his contract will expire at the start of next summer. One report indicated he could very well stay with the Lakers beyond that point, but it is anyone’s best guess what he will do at that time.

According to another report, some believe the superstar will soon announce that the 2025-26 season will be his last in the NBA. Whenever he does decide to hang up his Nikes for good, he will let the world know before that final season, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com.

Fedor said that James will do so because he will want a farewell tour and all the glory and recognition that comes with one (h/t Lakers Daily).

“The one thing that I will say is that he is going — I believe, based on everything that I know about LeBron and all the conversations that I’ve had with people in his orbit, his general orbit — I believe that LeBron is going to make it known that he is going to retire before he retires,” Fedor said. “It’s not going to be a situation where he plays out the final year, and then in the offseason, he just retires.

“The sense that I get is LeBron wants it all. He wants the farewell tour. He wants all of these different franchises reliving all of his moments against them. He wants all of the glitz and the glam that comes with one of the greatest players, if not the greatest player of all time, calling it quits, eventually.”

James is the rare player who will deserve an elaborate farewell tour during his final go-around in the league. He’s the NBA’s all-time leading career scorer, and he has established all sorts of other records that have to do with his incredible longevity.

At age 40, he has continued to shine brightly. He averaged 24.4 points, 8.2 assists and 7.8 rebounds a game while shooting a high percentage from the field, and he made the All-NBA Second Team. He could very well put forth similar production this coming season, which would call into question whether he should perhaps stick around a little longer.

This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: LeBron will give heads-up before final season, wants farewell tour