LeBron James had a brilliant game against the Brooklyn Nets last night. The 39-year-old dropped 40 points with 7 rebounds and five assists while playing for 37 minutes. These stats are impressive for any player, let alone someone of his age. LeBron’s performance became a topic of discussion on the UNDISPUTED show as Keyshawn Johnson tried to explore the possibility of LBJ crossing Michael Jordan in the GOAT conversation.
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This is not the first time that LeBron’s position in the GOAT conversation is debated on the show. A few days ago, Paul Pierce said that if he manages to take this Lakers squad to the NBA Finals and ends up winning, there would be no reason why someone would still put him behind MJ.
Johnson said something similar on the latest episode as he believes that LeBron is still performing at a high level, and he is chasing something. The panel also said that the 39-year-old is far from being done with the game and is still playing because he has the passion for it.
.@RealSkipBayless is not buying LeBron’s hints of his NBA career ending soon:
“He is not close to burned out. He loves to hoop!” pic.twitter.com/wLKyRoz85E
— UNDISPUTED (@undisputed) April 1, 2024
Johnson said that we are not looking at a regular player who is only stepping onto the court because he has to. In case of LeBron, he still has something to prove, and he also wants to establish himself above Jordan.
“This is a guy who is chasing Michael Jordan, who wants to be the unanimous, just not even close to the GOAT.”
Surprisingly, Skip Bayless was on Johnson’s side with his take on LeBron and he said that if he didn’t know his real age, he would have believed that he is 29 years old and not 39. This season, LeBron is averaging 25.4 points 7.3 rebounds, 8.1 assists, and 1.2 steals per game while shooting 53.3% from the field.
LeBron James hints at retirement
While majority of people like what they are seeing from LeBron this season, he is coming to terms with the age factor. While talking to The Athletic’s Jovan Buha after the game, he said that there’s not much left in his tank and that the end is near.
He said, “I’m not gonna play another 21 years, that’s for damn sure. But not very long. I don’t know when that door will close as far as when I’ll retire. But I don’t have much time left.”
LeBron James on how long he expects to continue playing in the NBA: “Not very long. … I’m not gonna play another 21 years, that’s for damn sure. But not very long. I don’t know when that door will close as far as when I’ll retire. But I don’t have much time left.” pic.twitter.com/OtJzM6cheI
— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) April 1, 2024
The silver lining in his recent comment is that he didn’t say this is going to be his last season. So, for the fans of LeBron and this sport, we might still get to witness his greatness for another season and when his time comes, he will bid farewell to this game as one of the greatest to ever do it.
