On the 11th of January, at 5:04am (GMT), Kevin O’connor tweeted some words of wisdom.
O’Connor, a senior NBA analyst at the Ringer, said what everyone should be thinking. LeBron James is 36 years old, and although Father Time looks like he’s still yet to even smell the Kid from Akron, his time on the court is limited.
James has been in the league since 2003, 10 years before it captivated my interest- after I started playing basketball regrettably late at the age of 14 (2013). From then on, he’s been a dominant force- wait no- the dominant force. It’s incredible. But one day the articles will flood in, as it will be the day that LeBron James has retired from the league.
I imagine that on this day, the whole world will stop. Obviously, that won’t strictly be true, but I’d love for a post apocalyptic scene where the stock markets close, the streets are deserted and everyone wears black. It’s hard to imagine the league without the King.
Every book, every website, any reference to basketball will have a picture of LeBron James or a reference to his name somewhere at the forefront. One day, it will be a piece of history, now, we are lucky enough to witness it every day.
A brief look at the stats
According to Basketball Reference, Bron is posting 25.4/8/10.7 through 37 games in the first half of the season.
Again. He is 36 years old.
For his career, King James has posted 27.1/7.4/7.3 as of 12/01/2020. The other day, he passed MJ on the all time FG made list to get to the number 4 spot. The numbers speak for themselves. But everyone knows all of this, it’s been written a thousand times before.
Instead, let’s make some predictions about the twilight of LeBron’s career:
- LeBron finishes number 1 in career total points- he currently has 33,482 in 4th place behind Kobe, Karl Malone and Kareem Abdul Jabbar who tops the list with 38,387.
- LeBron ends his career with 5 championships, one less than Jordan, causing the debate to live on forever- the last coming as a role player on a team led by his son, LeBron James Jr.- on the knicks (lol).
- James hangs up his jersey for the last time at the age of 41 at the end of the 2025 NBA season, having completed his farewell tour in his 22nd year in the league.
- The king has his jersey retired at 3 different organisations.
- Luka Doncic wins three MVPs before LeBron retires.
- LeBron dunks so hard that it causes Rob Pelinka to soil his pants.
This is the first LeBron James article on this blog, but it certainly won’t be the last. I’m going to stop this one there before it gets ridiculous. But just remember,
Don’t take LeBron James for granted.
The Over-Analytical 