"Retirement Is Coming. It Is Coming. It's Just Not Here Just Yet" - Despite Being In His 40s, LeBron Made It Clear He's Still A Ways Away From Calling It A Career

David Berding. Getty Images.

Admittedly, I am not exactly what you would call a "LeBron James Glazer". I'll leave that to the Lakers fans and LeBron stans of the world. In fact, I've spent the majority of LeBron's career despising him with a passion, mostly because post-2010 he's done nothing but make life hell for me and my favorite team, regardless of where he's played. It's been 13 years since I was sitting in the 3rd row at the Garden for this

and that shit we witnessed in Game 6 still haunts me to this day. My brain will never fully comprehend how LeBron did what he did in that first half, and I'll never forget how the entire arena was shell-shocked as it unfolded. 

But I will say this. As I've gotten older (and watched my favorite team finally get over the hump), I've learned to have more appreciation for what LeBron is currently doing on the basketball court in 2025. The fact that he remains as consistent and good as he is, despite his age and NBA mileage, is genuinely impressive. Hate the guy all you want for all the bullshit he tends to pull, there's no way around the fact that this is extremely impressive

I mean, what the hell. This type of production and longevity should not be possible and frankly, I'm not sure when we'll ever see something like this again. At some point, I think it's only natural to put the LeBron hatred aside for just a moment and appreciate that we're seeing something rather outrageous. I still despise the Lakers with every fiber of my being, but I'm now able to appreciate what LeBron is doing as a player. Credit to me for that type of personal growth.

At this stage of his career, it's no surprise that a lot of the focus on LeBron isn't just if the Lakers can win the title (lol) but rather how much longer LeBron plans on sticking around. If you ask me, I see a player who isn't even close to retirement. There's no severe dropoff in terms of production or availability really. The dude just played 70 games at age 40 putting up 24/7/8 on great shooting splits while making 2nd Team All NBA. That doesn't exactly scream a player who should be getting ready for the Big 3 instead of another NBA season.

In a recent interview, LeBron was asked about this topic, and his answer was pretty interesting

A few things here. First, whenever the topic of LeBron's pending retirement comes up, my brain immediately goes to this viral tweet……from 2015

Fast forward 10 years, and unfortunately, this fuckery is still very much going on. 

There's also this to consider. I'd say there is a 0.0% chance that LeBron is going to want to share his retirement season with any other superstar player who we could also see retire in the next few seasons. We know Chris Paul is having what will most likely be his farewell season this year, so that's out. That leaves us with guys like KD, Steph, Harden, Westbrook, and LeBron as the next wave of superstars who are rounding the back nine of their careers. 

My guess is all those guys will have at least 3 more seasons, so the question to me is more, does LeBron try and outlast those guys, or does he maybe pull the plug a year early? Is it possible we see him play this year with the Lakers, and then sign another 1+1 deal to stay in LA or go to another team, he plays that first guaranteed season, and then retires in 2 years? Logic tells you that's fairly possible, but at the same time, I go back to his production. If he's still putting up 24/7/8 on good splits as he plays into his 40s, why would he stop? Barring some sort of major injury, part of me feels like LeBron's goal might be to outlast that other group of older superstars as opposed to getting out before they also hang it up. 

Does that mean we'll be seeing LeBron on an NBA court in his age 45 season? At this point, I'm not sure you can rule it out.