The question about when LeBron James will retire remains as one of the biggest unanswered inquiries in the NBA. The Los Angeles Lakers star has not yet officially announced the end date of his basketball career. But given that he’s in his 23rd season, fans expect him to call it quits soon. James is also not getting any younger and will turn 41 in December.
In the past, James has commented about retiring from basketball. However, he didn’t mention an exact timeline when talking about his retirement. There are speculations that the Lakers star will stop playing after the 2025-26 NBA season. The fact that the four-time champion did not request to sign an extension with the club is the strongest hint his supporters can cite.
Instead, James picked up his $52.6 million player option and will become an unrestricted free agent in the offseason.
On Tuesday, Dave McMenamin claimed that LeBron James still had uncertainty about his retirement. The talented forward is still uncertain, even if he thinks this season might be his last.
“At the same time, if James believes this could be his last season — something that sources close to James have insisted that he remains undecided about — he might feel even more responsibility to suit up for every game on what would then be a retirement tour,” McMenamin reported.
Retirement is never easy, especially for superstars like James. He’s the only player from the 2003 NBA draft who is still active. Even other star players who arrived after him have decided to hang it up. The most recent is Chris Paul, a close friend of the four-time MVP. According to the Los Angeles Clippers star, the current campaign will be his final year after playing 20 seasons.
LeBron James isn’t concerned about the Lakers’ inefficiency from outside
The Lakers have been competitive this season with a 12-4 record. While the team has been successful early in the season, they need to fix one area of their performance. LA is shooting 33.3% of their 3-pointers, putting them in the bottom five of the league.
Even with that inefficiency, LeBron James isn’t bothered and believes they’ll fix it soon.
“It won’t last,” LeBron said. “We’re not worried about it. We got too many good shooters. It won’t last…We’re getting great looks. If we were shooting bad shots and missing, then we could be worrying about, ‘Ok, how can we create better looks.’ We’re getting great looks. All of us. So, not worried about that. The numbers will average out.”
This season, Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves have shot 31.1% from deep. The team’s backcourt attempts the most shots from downtown. However, the Lakers’ recent downward trend has affected their ability to make long-range shots.
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Reign also writes NBA and WNBA news updates on Sportskeeda. He started as a feature writer for AirAlamo, an NBA website that covers the San Antonio Spurs. Some of his work can also be seen on Valley of the Suns, a Phoenix Suns-centric website, where he served as a contributing writer.
