LeBron James just played his 22nd NBA All-Star Game, setting the record for most appearances and most consecutive appearances in the game. He’s played 23 years in the NBA. It’s one of the longest careers in modern sports. As of now, obviously, he’s still playing at a high level, but he is 41.
He can’t play forever. James has taken a minor step back in 2025-26, but he is seemingly not close to having the wheels fall off and being forced to retire. When will he step away? Will it be after this season? James doesn’t even know the answer.
LeBron James unsure on retirement as of now
As of now, LeBron James does not know if he’s going to play in 2026-27, which is after his current contract with the Los Angeles Lakers is up. He might return, but he might also retire and move into another career.
“Yeah, I mean, I want to live,” James said before the All-Star Game via ESPN. “When I know, you guys will know. I don’t know, I have no idea. I just want to live, that’s all.” Whether that means he will play another year or not remains to be seen. It is likely, though, that James will want to have a sort of retirement tour in his final season.
For now, though, James isn’t focused on what’s uncertain about his future. He’s focused on what is certain about the Lakers’ future, which likely includes another trip to the playoffs. James wants to compete, so he’s not interested in deciding his future as an individual.
“No, it’s (not about me),” he said. “It’s gearing up towards the postseason, so it has nothing to do with that. It’s the same. Same motivation. Same mind factor. We’ve got past the marathon, and now the sprint is about to start.”
The Lakers are now fifth in the West. That is, however, just 1.5 games ahead of the seventh spot. That would put them in the Play-In, which isn’t ideal for a team aiming to have a deep postseason run. The Lakers are also eight games back of the West-leading Oklahoma City Thunder.
“I know that when we’ve played some of our best basketball this season, we look very good,” the All-Star said. “On the other side, when we’ve been terrible, we’ve looked disgusting. I think the most important (thing) is if we can get healthy, how many minutes we could be on the floor, how much chemistry we can build with the sprint starting.”
He continued, “You would hope that you can have the regular season and kind of build that cohesiveness and things of that nature, but I’m hoping that if we can get healthy, that we can start to build that.” James, Austin Reaves, and Luka Doncic have only played 10 games together.
Health has really hurt the Lakers, but they are 7-3 when all three of those players play. The problem has just been getting them on the court together. “Most important for our ballclub right now is health,” James said. “And I can’t state it any more clear.”
Whether or not the Lakers do make a deep run will depend on a few things, but health is the biggest factor. Will they be healthy in a seven-game series? Will they get a bad first-round matchup because they weren’t healthy down the stretch?
“Our success is going to come down to, obviously, I think our health,” the future Hall of Famer said. “Our coaching staff is putting us in the right position. I think they’re going to give us a game plan every night, but when it comes to what we have to work with, we have to actually go out and see it. We haven’t been privy to having that opportunity much this year.”
This is a new look for the Lakers, with DeAndre Ayton, Jake LaRavia, Luke Kennard, and Marcus Smart all coming in who weren’t on the team last year. That makes it hard for James to make any predictions about how far they can go. Still, if they’re healthy, James is confident.
Related Posts
