{"id":75543,"date":"2024-04-30T07:39:58","date_gmt":"2024-04-30T11:39:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=75543"},"modified":"2024-04-30T07:39:58","modified_gmt":"2024-04-30T11:39:58","slug":"lebron-james-agent-opines-on-how-much-longer-hell-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/04\/30\/lebron-james-agent-opines-on-how-much-longer-hell-play\/","title":{"rendered":"LeBron James\u2019 Agent Opines On How Much Longer He\u2019ll Play"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>After the Los Angeles Lakers were eliminated from the 2024 NBA Playoffs in the First Round, there\u2019s been rampant speculation about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jamesle01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LeBron James<\/a>\u2019 playing future.<\/p>\n<p>A 21-year NBA veteran that\u2019s been in the league longer than many of his younger peers have been alive, James has essentially dedicated his life to the sport. Even after James retires, he\u2019ll still be around, likely angling for team ownership. Nonetheless, it\u2019ll be a sad day for the basketball world when he decides to hang up his jersey.<\/p>\n<p>Addressing James\u2019 playing future, his agent \u2014Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul \u2014joined the SiriusXM NBA Radio show with longtime NBA reporter Frank Isola and player-turned-commentator <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/scalabr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brian Scalabrine<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>Rich Paul Opines On How Much Longer LeBron James Will Play<\/h2>\n<p>According to Paul, James won\u2019t be in the league much longer. However, he\u2019s inclined to believe that the 39-year-old isn\u2019t quite done yet.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou know, I believe so,\u201d Paul says when asked if James will return next season.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">&#8220;The guy has committed more than half of his life to the game of basketball&#8221;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KlutchSports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@KlutchSports<\/a> Founder &amp; CEO, Rich Paul, discussed LeBron\u2019s future when he joined <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheFrankIsola?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@TheFrankIsola<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Scalabrine?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@Scalabrine<\/a> \ud83d\udc40<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/NBAPlayoffs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#NBAPlayoffs<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RichPaul4?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@RichPaul4<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/AZkLP1gGGf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/AZkLP1gGGf<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SiriusXMNBA\/status\/1784980837437432132?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 29, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think we definitely have less years with LJ than we\u2019ve already been able to enjoy\u2026,\u201d he continues.<\/p>\n<h3>On His Shield<\/h3>\n<p>\u201cLook the guy has committed more than half of his life to the game of basketball,\u201d Paul muses.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cI think he\u2019s treated it with the utmost respect and been someone to give back to the game. I think we put the pressures on him differently than other people and the expectations ever since he was 18 years old&#8230; And he was still able to position himself and succeed.<\/p>\n<p>Obviously, he was the first athlete \u2014the first NBA player \u2014to kind of quote-unquote \u2018I\u2019ma do what I want to do.\u2019 And I don\u2019t think people necessarily like that\u2026\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Paul is intimately familiar with James\u2019 life, far past the typical player-agent relationship. That said, he isn\u2019t defending James\u2019 honor just because of their friendship.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m LeBron\u2019s biggest critic, by the way,\u201d Paul says.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cWhen I have an issue, especially on the basketball court, I go get in front of him and we talk about it\u2026 Because I actually know the game. I don\u2019t just look at stats and tell you how great you were the next morning. I understand if you did something right or wrong\u2026\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>To Paul\u2019s point, James has been maligned for two main reasons over the course of his career.<\/p>\n<p>The first is his performance in the playoffs, whether fair or foul. These are the expectations that Paul alluded to. Compared to NBA legend <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jordami01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Michael Jordan<\/a> before he was even drafted, James is one of the few athletes expected to win championships early and often.<\/p>\n<p>The second is his contribution to the player empowerment or superteam era.<\/p>\n<p>To be clear, James isn\u2019t the originator of superteams, which have been around since the league\u2019s inception. He\u2019s not the first star player to want to team up with other upper echelon players either. However, he\u2019s the first player to treat the NBA like he was playing Franchise Mode on 2K, hand-selecting his teammates in an effort to put together a championship-level roster. As a result, James is arguably the first player-GM in NBA history.<\/p>\n<p>Four rings later, it\u2019s hard to argue with the results.<\/p>\n<p>Nonetheless, many James\u2019 individual accomplishments seemed bound to happen regardless. With his consistency and longevity, the only obstacle to him becoming the NBA\u2019s all-time leading scorer was durability. Before joining the Miami Heat, James had already won two MVP awards and had five straight top-five finishes in MVP voting.<\/p>\n<p>When James retires, plenty of people will say they don\u2019t like how he changed the league. Even more will downplay his success. Yet, when James goes out, it\u2019ll be on his shield.<\/p>\n<p>A true warrior and commander, the honor with which James approached his duties should be praised. There have been few better leaders in the locker room, on the court, or in the community. For him to have entered the league at 18 and become that type of <em>man<\/em> is as important as anything he\u2019s accomplished on the hardwood.<\/p>\n<h3>\u2018Two or Three Years\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>\u201cTo answer your question,\u201d Paul says, \u201cI don\u2019t know how long we see him\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cMy conversation with him is just have fun. Just enjoy it because you got a lot less years to play than you\u2019ve already played. So just enjoy the ride man. It\u2019s been a beautiful ride\u2026 I think when it\u2019s all said and done, there\u2019ll be a bunch of people with a thousand stories of what he meant to the game\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s had an unbelievable career,\u201d Paul continues. \u201cI think we do see him next year. The \u2018how many more\u2019 after that, I do not know. But I think he got maybe two or three years left in the tank. Maybe, you know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>James retiring around the time he\u2019s 42 years old is pretty feasible considering how well he\u2019s still playing. To that point, it\u2019s unlikely that James will want to be on the court if he isn\u2019t performing at a high level. With all due respect, he isn\u2019t a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/cartevi01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Vince Carter<\/a> type that\u2019ll play until the wheels fall off.<\/p>\n<p>That said, if James is going to play two or three more years, his next contract could be his last.<\/p>\n<p>A potential free agent this offseason, James will have <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/03\/07\/lakers-lebron-james-eligible-no-trade-clause-may-not-matter\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">the option of re-signing<\/a> with the Lakers or moving on. Having played for three franchises in his storied career, there\u2019s little doubt that James has already considered the latter, especially with his relative lack of postseason success in LA. His son <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/04\/02\/2024-nba-draft-bronny-james-makes-major-usc-decision\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">deciding to transfer from USC<\/a> could also factor into his decision to stay in Southern California.<\/p>\n<p>However, there\u2019s always the chance James remains with the Lakers. He\u2019s grown close with Lakers owner Jeanie Buss, All-Star big man <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/davisan02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Anthony Davis<\/a>, and fan favorite <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/reaveau01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Austin Reaves<\/a>. Furthermore, their star-gazing front office is looking to make a blockbuster trade this offseason.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After the Los Angeles Lakers were eliminated from the 2024 NBA Playoffs in the First Round, there\u2019s been rampant speculation about LeBron James\u2019 playing future. A 21-year NBA veteran that\u2019s been in the league longer than many of his younger peers have been alive, James has essentially dedicated his life to the sport. Even after [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":75554,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26,1608,62,3],"tags":[38,297,2389],"class_list":["post-75543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lakers","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","tag-lebron-james","tag-nba-free-agency","tag-rich-paul"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75543\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}