Current:Home > MarketsLeBron James indicates at NBA All-Star Game intention to remain with Los Angeles Lakers -EquityZone
LeBron James indicates at NBA All-Star Game intention to remain with Los Angeles Lakers
View
Date:2025-04-14 22:34:45
Editor's note: USA TODAY Sports will provide updates, highlights, analysis, reaction and more from the NBA All-Star Game.
INDIANAPOLIS — As Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James prepared for his NBA record 20th All-Star Game, he acknowledged he is contemplating what the end of his playing career will look like and expressed a desire to finish it with the Lakers.
“I have not mapped out how many seasons I have left. I know it's not that many,” James said when asked by USA TODAY Sports at a news conference Sunday afternoon.
Just before the trade deadline, the Golden State Warriors reached out to the Lakers about James’ availability and were rebuffed on two counts: the Lakers nor James had any interest in a trade.
“I am a Laker, and I am happy and been very happy being a Laker the last six years, and hopefully it stays that way,” James said. “But I don't have the answer to how long it is or which uniform I'll be in. Hopefully, it is with the Lakers. It's a great organization and so many greats. But we'll see.
“I don't know how it's going to end, but it's coming. It's coming, for sure.”
Whether it’s after this season or after a few more seasons, the 39-year-old James, who is a four-time MVP, four-time champion, four-time Finals MVP and the NBA's all-time leading scorer, isn’t sure if he wants an extravagant farewell tour or not one at all.
“I was asked this question a couple days ago: ‘Will you kind of take the farewell tour, or will you kind of just Tim Duncan it?’” James said. “I'm 50-50, I'm going to be honest, because there's times when I feel like I guess I owe it to my fans that have been along this journey with me for two decades-plus, to be able to give them that moment where it's every city and whatever the case may be and they give you your flowers or whatever the case may be. That seems cool.
"But the other side of I've never been that great with accepting like praise. It's a weird feeling for me. I never really talked about it much, but it's just a weird feeling for me. So to go in each city if that's the case – I don't know. I've seen Mike's, I've seen Kobe's. I've seen a lot of guys. I just don't know how I'd feel. I don't know if I'd feel great about it. Maybe the only child in me.”
James was in a reflective mood, as is often the case with him at an event like this.
“As a kid growing up and loving the game of basketball and watching the NBA All-Star Weekend and seeing the Sunday game, I always had dreams and visions if I was able to play the game at a high level and give everything to the game, hopefully I could be a part of that game someday,” he said. “It's just been an absolute honor to be able to grace the floor throughout my career and be out there with the greatest players in the world year in and year out. This is very humbling, very blessed, and it's something I will never forget obviously. It's part of my journey.”
James, whose Lakers are 30-26 and battling for a playoff spot in the Western Conference, made his first All-Star Game in 2005, his second season in the league. Allen Iverson, Vince Carter, Grant Hill and Shaquille O’Neal were the other four starters, and his longtime friend Dwyane Wade was a reserve.
He has played in every All-Star Game since.
“You still get that moment where I'm in the locker room looking at Steph (Curry), AD (Anthony Davis), KD (Kevin Durant), Kawhi (Leonard), Joker (Nikola Jokic), Luka (Doncic), all those guys. … So you still have that feeling like, this is pretty cool. “I still at heart and like deep inside, I'm still like that 18-year-old kid that came into this league from Akron, Ohio, which you don't really have many inspirations. You've got to grab it from somebody, and it's usually like a family member or a basketball coach or a football coach or a teacher or somebody like that. It's not many people that make it on TV or make it to doing special things that you think is special.”
James also plans on playing in his fourth Olympics this summer in Paris.
"I told myself before the season when I committed to being a part of the Olympic team, obviously it was all predicated on my health," he said. "As it stands right now, I am healthy enough to be on the team and perform at a level that I knew I could perform at. ... But the one thing I know for sure, I don't have to carry the load. ...
"I'm not sure right now what the full team is going to look like, but from some of the names, I know I don't have to feel any pressure going out there to feel like I have to carry the team. That's going to be a full 12-man roster that's capable of doing it both offensively and defensively on any given night versus any country in the world."
veryGood! (41)
Related
- DoorDash steps up driver ID checks after traffic safety complaints
- One dead, 6 hurt in shooting at outdoor gathering in Philadelphia 2 days after killing on same block
- Ron Cephas Jones Dead at 66: This Is Us Cast Pays Tribute to Late Costar
- Saints: Jimmy Graham back with team after stopped by police during ‘medical episode’
- Former Syrian official arrested in California who oversaw prison charged with torture
- Woman captured on video climbing Rome's Trevi Fountain to fill up water bottle
- Hozier recalls 'super moving' jam session at Joni Mitchell's house: 'We all worship Joni'
- 2023 World Cup final recap: Spain beats England 1-0 for first title
- Are Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp down? Meta says most issues resolved after outages
- '1 in 30 million': Rare orange lobster discovered at restaurant in New York
Ranking
- EU countries double down on a halt to Syrian asylum claims but will not yet send people back
- Lionel Messi, Inter Miami face Nashville SC in Leagues Cup final: How to stream
- 37 Cheap Finds That Will Make Your Outfit Look Expensive
- Are forced-reset triggers illegal machine guns? ATF and gun rights advocates at odds in court fights
- Google unveils a quantum chip. Could it help unlock the universe's deepest secrets?
- Hozier recalls 'super moving' jam session at Joni Mitchell's house: 'We all worship Joni'
- Lolita, beloved killer whale who had been in captivity, has died, Miami Seaquarium says
- New Jersey requires climate change education. A year in, here's how it's going
Recommendation
Taylor Swift Eras Archive site launches on singer's 35th birthday. What is it?
Saints: Jimmy Graham back with team after stopped by police during ‘medical episode’
Two people killed after car is struck by train in South Dakota
Tee Morant on suspended son Ja Morant: 'He got in trouble because of his decisions'
NHL in ASL returns, delivering American Sign Language analysis for Deaf community at Winter Classic
GM’s Cruise autonomous vehicle unit agrees to cut fleet in half after 2 crashes in San Francisco
Exclusive: Efforts to resurrect the woolly mammoth to modern day reaches Alaska classrooms
Lionel Messi, Inter Miami face Nashville SC in Leagues Cup final: How to stream