EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – LeBron James celebrated his 40th birthday on Monday with gratitude for his basketball longevity and optimism about his future with the Los Angeles Lakers.
And when James was asked how he’ll know when it’s finally time to retire, the top scorer in NBA history offered a frank assessment of his still-formidable skills.
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“To be honest, if I really wanted to, I could probably play this game at a high level for about another – weird that I might say this – but about another five or seven years, if I wanted to," James said. "But I’m not going to do that.”
James already has one of the longest careers in NBA history, but he knows it's nearing an end. He has repeatedly said he won't overstay his welcome in basketball, yet that moment clearly hasn't arrived: James is still a dominant force for the Pacific Division-leading Lakers, averaging 23.5 points, 9.0 assists and 7.9 rebounds this season.
“It’s kind of laughable, really, to know where I am, to see where I am still, playing the game at a high level,” James said. “Still being such a young man, but old in the scheme of how many years I’ve got in this profession. (I) just think back to when I came into the league. That’s like the first thing I thought about. You came in as an 18-year-old kid, and now you’re sitting here as a 40-year-old, a 22-year vet, with a 20-year-old in the NBA as well. It’s pretty cool.”
James is already in his 22nd NBA campaign — more than any player except Vince Carter, who also played 22 seasons — and he will join the slightly larger list of NBA players to suit up after their 40th birthdays on Tuesday night when the Lakers host the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Akron, Ohio native won Cleveland's only major pro sports championship with the Cavs in 2016.
James said he reacted to his milestone birthday with a disbelief familiar to anybody whose life odometer has rolled over to a number they still haven't processed.
“I had a decade of the 30s, so to just wake up and just be like, ‘Oh shoot, oh damn, you’re 40?’” James said with a grin.
James said he already felt the march of time two months ago when he and his son, Bronny, became the first father and son to play in the NBA together.
LeBron is also encouraged by a solid season so far with the Lakers, who have looked livelier in their first year under new coach JJ Redick. Los Angeles got tougher and deeper Sunday when it traded D'Angelo Russell to Brooklyn for veteran wing defender Dorian Finney-Smith and guard Shake Milton.
“Right now, I think we’re a very good team,” James said. “I think we have a chance to compete with anybody in the league. Are we at a championship level? Can we win a championship right now? No, I don’t think so. That’s good, because we have so much room to improve, and we also just added two new guys as well. We’ll see how we incorporate those guys. It should be fun as well. But we’ll see. I don’t know if that determines if I stick around longer, because it doesn’t change my career in any sense or fashion.”
James also isn't thinking beyond Los Angeles, where he has settled into a comfortable California life with his family since 2018. He still expects the Lakers to be his final stop whenever he decides to close his epic career.
“I would love for it to end here,” James said. “That would be the plan. I came here to play the last stage of my career and to finish it off here. But I’m also not silly or too jaded to know the business of the game as well, to know the business of basketball. But I think my relationship with this organization speaks for itself.”
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