Not even an hour after the Los Angeles Lakers were eliminated from the playoffs on Monday night, LeBron James threatened to retire from the NBA. Most people do not find that scenario to be likely. Many people believe he may have some motivation for sharing that information. Whether he wants the Lakers to go all-in to get him more help or whether he wants a trade remains to be seen. But James walking away does not seem like what will unfold.
Rather, reporter Arash Markazi shared what James’ plans look like for the next few years. Markazi is plugged-in to both the Los Angeles and Las Vegas scenes. He made a few declarations regarding James that make plenty of sense. Markazi believes James will play out his existing contract, which has two years left, and retire in 2025. He laid out quite a timeline.
Markazi says James won’t walk away from the NBA without a retirement tour, which rules out a retirement this offseason. Markazi says that Bronny James will be one-and-done at USC, and that James wanted to play with his son in the NBA (which would be two seasons from now). He says the 2025 All-Star Game will likely be in Los Angeles, which he believes will be used to celebrate James. Then he says James will join an ownership group for a team in Las Vegas in 2026.
– LeBron isn’t leaving without a retirement tour.
– His goal was to play in the NBA with Bronny, who is playing 1 mile down the street next year and will be one and done.
– L.A will host 2025 NBA All-Star, which will be a LeBron retirement party.
– NBA Vegas ownership in 2026.
— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) May 23, 2023
All of that makes plenty of sense — almost too much sense.
A trade scenario — unless it were to the Clippers — wouldn’t add up. A big reason why Bronny chose USC was so his father could be close to him to watch his son’s games. Markazi also nails it that James would never leave without a farewell tour. The 2025 All-Star Game would be the perfect type of farewell LeBron would love as well. James would also be 40 years old that season, which would be a good round age to say adios.
