The potential retirement of LeBron James has been a topic discussed in the NBA world quite often. There were several doubts surrounding James’ future before his eldest son, Bronny James, got drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers in late June. However, LBJ put these conversations to bed by signing a massive two-year, $101.35 million extension. Out of nowhere, Kevin Garnett has revived this topic and spoke about it in LBJ’s favor.
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Kevin Garnett took to X (formerly “Twitter”) and estimated till when King James could be active in the league. As surprising as it may sound, the Big Ticket was confident enough that the four-time champ could be an NBA professional till the age of 49 and wrote,
“Lord! Bron could play 10 more years in a Draymond role. “
Garnett even explained his take by claiming that James would have to be demoted to a “Draymond (Green) role” to achieve the same.
Lord! Bron could play 10 more years in a Draymond role.
— Kevin Garnett (@KevinGarnett5KG) July 11, 2024
Green has been 8 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists per game player throughout his career. By playing a “Draymond role”, KG seemingly implies that James will have to witness a massive dip in his stats and try to impact the team’s offense without being the primary scoring option.
Clearly, James recording a typical Green kind of stat line – 7 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists – in Team USA’s win over Canada motivated the Boston Celtics legend to put out the same tweet. Whether or not The Akron Hammer does eventually become a Green-type player towards the end of his career, it is worth noting that he has shown no signs of slowing down until yet.
Kevin Garnett has previously also lauded LeBron James for his longevity
During his playing days, Garnett said several nasty things about King James. It was safe to say that Garnett despised the fact that he had to face LBJ numerous times in the postseason across his career. However, as he’s grown older, a mature KG is realizing just how impressive LeBron has been and is acknowledging the latter for the same.
At the beginning of the 2023-2024 season, KG spoke about the longevity of LeBron James. The 2008 NBA Champ made sure that people were aware that James was to be given much more respect and credit for the same than he received. Garnett also backed his take by recollecting a small anecdote that Christian Wood revealed.
“His desire is matched with his health and what he’s invested in himself. I’m not surprised at all. He’s put this in himself, he gets up and goes to the weight room, he gets it in after practice. Ain’t nobody waking him up making him go in. The first days of training camp Christan Wood say he tried to come in there at 7:45, Bron already in there working. You know when you get older you got to work even harder. So to see him out there get first…. be the best player I’m not shocked you know why cuz that’s what he on,” Garnett said on an episode of his podcast.
Garnett played in the league for 21 years. For him to be impressed and rave about someone else’s longevity is truly a testament to LeBron James’ greatness.
