LeBron vs. Father Time

LeGreatness, LeImmortal, LeGoat, LeSunshine, or as most know him, LeBron James is currently playing in his 22nd season in the NBA and fans have noticed that he has begun to show his age in more ways than ever before this year.

I want to preface this by saying that if LeBron really wants to, he can give you a great game on any given night you ask. He just set the record for the oldest player to record four triple-doubles in a row last week at the ripe age of 39 and has given us multiple 35+ point games already.

But for an 82-game season, those Tuesday night games on League Pass against the Pelicans, he can no longer be the guy he once was the past two decades.

I wouldn’t say such blasphemy if it wasn’t the truth, and that truth is LeBron is scoring his lowest PPG since his rookie year, on the worst percentage of his career and has for the lack of a better word, an abysmal plus/minus of -129.

The King is looking old and with him making statements regarding his retirement like: “I'm not going to play that much longer, to be completely honest. One year, two years, whatever the case may be. I said the other night that I'm not playing until the wheels fall off.” It's looking like James may only have a season or two left in him.

The last thing on James’ bucket list was to play with his son Bronny and now that he’s done that this year, there isn’t much else left for him to do.

Sure, he could stick around and watch the Lakers put together the same team every year as they have since 2021, or he could maybe get traded to a contender, but I don’t think getting that 5th ring is all that important to him at this stage of his career.

What most likely happens is that after this year, LeBron will announce he will retire after the 2025-2026 season, and go on a much-deserved farewell tour that many greats including Kobe Bryant, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and LeBron’s old partner Dwyane Wade did in their last seasons.

The last thing fans would want to see is LeBron push past his effective age, turn into a 12th man for a team, and play as a shell of his former self and wither away instead of going out in style.

After his career, James has the media skills and personality to become an analyst like Shaq or Charles Barkley. He could possibly take a different route as he stated he would like to own a share of an NBA team, he could also be a coach or a GM.

Whatever LeBron chooses to do with the end of his basketball story and beyond, trust that I and millions of other fans will be sad to see it come to an end but excited for his future.

Chris Vadnais is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email cmv5562@psu.edu.