LOS ANGELES — It seems an odd time to talk retirement with a man who just put together three consecutive triple-doubles and is playing at an All-NBA level.
However, time is always part of the story now with LeBron James — those three consecutive triple-doubles set a record for the oldest player ever to accomplish that feat, doing it at age 39. That broke LeBron’s old record set at age 34. Next month, LeBron will turn 40, so the question of how much longer he can do this — or how much longer he wants to do it — came up.
“It’s the mind,” LeBron said about what will determine when he hangs up his Nikes. “Wherever my mind is, is how the rest of my body is going to go, whatever the case may be. I’m not going to play that much longer, to be completely honest. One year, two years, whatever the case may be. I said the other night that I’m not playing until the wheels fall off. I’m not.
“I’m not going to be that guy. I’m not going to be the guy disrespecting the game because I just want to be out on the floor.”
LeBron echoes what he has said previously, and what the handful of great athletes who get to choose when they exit the game have long said (most professional athletes have that choice to walk away made for them when teams don’t give them another contract despite the player wanting to continue). It’s not the body — especially in LeBron’s case when he has taken such exceptional care of his — it’s when the player no longer has the desire to put in the work needed to get their body ready to play. It’s not that said player doesn’t want to keep playing, but he doesn’t want to do what has to be done to continue to play at that level.
LeBron will get to the end of this season, whenever that is for the Lakers, sit back and reflect, then make his call. Does he want to do this for season 23? The Lakers will gladly pay him if he wants to return.
The question is, when does his mind tell him it doesn’t want to anymore? LeBron doesn’t know when that will be, but he senses it’s coming.