The sporting world is waiting eagerly to hear LeBron James’ decision on his player option with the Los Angeles Lakers for the next season. He has a chance to return to the NBA for his 23rd season. Which would be a record. However, there is a lot of uncertainty as he works through his MCL injury. He suffered this injury during the Lakers season-ending playoff loss to Timberwolves.
Rich Paul, the agent of LeBron James, said on The Rich Eisen Show, “I think [everybody has] been on pins and needles for a while. I don’t know about that though. I wish I had the answer. I don’t know. It’s early. I don’t have conversations like that. I go into each year like he’s continuing to play. I never even talk about that.”
He finished his fifth season with the LA Lakers and now he has a choice. He can either play out his contract, opt-out, or sign an extension.
In the last season, he averaged 24.4 points, 8.2 assists, and 7.8 rebounds per game. He was the top player of the Lakers with these extraordinary stats. After the season-ending loss to Timberwolves in April, James has not made any comment about his future.
When he was asked about his retirement, he said, “I don’t have an answer to that. Something I’ll sit down with my family, my wife and my support group and kind of just talk through it and see what happens. And just have a conversation with myself on how long I want to continue to play. I don’t know the answer to that right now, to be honest. So we’ll see.”
Paul further iterated, “I always get asked this question. Physically, he can play several more years. I don’t think it’s the physical aspect of it. I think it’s where you’re at mentally. With all these guys, I think we put so much on the individual. There’s a lot of layers to success as an individual. And I think when you think about him per se, there’s a lot of decisions that have to be made. You know, going into a locker room, what the roster looks like, what the approach of each player is. He’s always going to get everybody’s best shot and so is the team he’s on with the history of the team.”
