LeBron Doesn’t Have Much Time Left
LeBron James says he’s close to retirement.
LeBron James is the most durable and resilient player in the NBA.
At 39 years old, the superstar is still going strong as he averages 25 points, 8 assists and 7 rebounds.
Additionally, he’s still playing like how he did when he was a rookie -he’s still dunking on people and bullying defenders as he attacks the rim.
There has never been a player in NBA history to do what LeBron is doing (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar comes close, but even he slowed down significantly in his late 30s).
But despite still being able to outbattle players who were born when he was in his first year, LeBron says his time in the NBA is nearing its end.
LeBron told The Athletic that he’s closer to retirement than being a rookie.
Via The Score:
“I’m not gonna play another 21 years, that’s for damn sure. But not very long,” James told The Athletic’s Jovan Buha after the Lakers’ 116–104 win against the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday. “I don’t know when that door will close as far as when I’ll retire. But I don’t have much time left.”
It will be a sad day when LeBron retires.
However, I think some people are taking this statement out of proportion.
LeBron is just stating that he’s getting old and won’t be playing for another decade. This doesn’t mean he’s retiring after this season -it just means he’s not going to be playing for another 10 seasons.
But this doesn’t change the fact that Father Time is closing in on LeBron and the chances of him winning another championship are dwindling as well.
And from how the Los Angeles Lakers have been playing this season (currently 42–33; ninth in the Western Conference), it doesn’t look like they’re going to beat out the top teams in the playoffs and win the title.
So, what are they going to do?
Well, according to Buha, the Lakers are going to go big in the offseason and try to get LeBron another star.
Via NBC Sports:
“Yes, they are [going after a third star]. And I can confirm that from multiple sources. They are going third-star hunting this offseason. And we’ll see how that affects the D-Lo (D’Angelo Russell) situation. We’ll see how -you probably have to give up Austin [Reaves] in almost any…third-star trade.
“…Now, who’s available? The one name I continually hear is Trae Young. He’s been to Laker playoff games before. He’s a Klutch Sports client. That’s probably the most realistic one right now. What happens with Dallas and Kyrie [Irving]? Do they flame out? Do they lose in the play-in? Do they lose in round one? Does Dallas ultimately break that up? And then what’s the market for Kyrie?”
If this does happen (L.A. getting either Young or Irving), it will make LeBron and the Lakers contenders (obviously).
But will it be enough for them to take down the top teams in the West and then the Beast of the East?
I don’t know, so I’m going to leave the question for you to ponder.
