(Translator's Note: This article is translated from the NBA official website, and the content in the article does not represent the views of the translator.) The data in this article is as of February 3, 2022 Beijing time)
Earlier this week, Tom Brady announced the end of his 22-year career in the NFL. Despite being 44 years old, Brady is still an MVP candidate and is at his peak. Similarly, LeBron James remained the league's top star in his 19th NBA season. How many more years remains of LeBron's career? Will he retreat before his skills drop significantly? Several NBA authors have given their own answers to these two questions.
Steve Aschburner: James will play until the 2024-25 season, pending son Brownie entering the NBA
Trying to guess how many more years of LeBron James' top performance will last is like trying to predict how many more action movies Liam Neeson will make. James' athletic career benefited from the most advanced nutrition, conditioning, fitness, and recovery methods, equipment, and staff in the history of sport (for which he paid a lot of money and sweat). In addition, he has a high degree of professionalism. So I think after his 40th birthday, his performance on the field will only drop slightly.
So is that enough to help him achieve the two goals that most people envision for him over the course of his career? The first goal is to surpass Michael Jordan in the discussion of "the greatest player of all time" among ordinary fans. I don't think it's too important to continue to reinforce the "most enduring performance ever" spot in the "Greatest Player of All Time" discussion, even if James can leapfrog Karim Abdul-Jabbar to become the league's all-time leading scorer. Many fans believe he needs to surpass Jordan's ring count – that means he needs seven championships, three more than he already has. That way he could keep fans less aware of his 6 Finals defeats (Jordan hadn't lost the Finals). I think this goal is very difficult to achieve.
In addition, another goal is to be teammates with his 17-year-old son Brownie, or at least compete in the NBA. This will wait until the 2024-25 season, when the "old emperor" will turn 40. Based on what I said above, this goal makes sense, when James's level will only decline slightly, and the decline will certainly not reach the point where it will embarrass him or damage his reputation as a top five player in history. So I think James' career will be 22 seasons long, just so that his farewell trip can happen in the same year as his eldest son's rookie season.
Mark Medina: James won't be satisfied with being the leading scorer and will continue his career until his son enters the NBA
James' contract will run into the 2022-23 season, so there's no doubt James will join Karim Abdul-Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant and Jamal Crawford as players in their 20-season NBA careers. It's also not suspenseful that James (36,414 points) will surpass Carl Malone (36,928) and Abdul-Jabbar (38,387 points) overall points to become the highest total scorer in NBA history. Still, I don't think James will settle for just those accomplishments and end his career in 2022-23. I'm sure he'll sign a new contract to extend his career.
Why? First, James has been doing a good job of procrastinating the elderly. Of course, James has missed a number of games due to injury in recent seasons, including 2017-18 (27), 2020-21 (27) and 2021-22 (14, still on the rise). But when James actually came on the court, he looked as dominant as he was when he was younger. Another reason is that James has publicly stated that he would be happy to stay in the league if his son Brownie could get into the NBA. Brownie will be in senior high school next season at Sierra Canyon School, a private K-12 school in Chatsworth, California, before having to play at least one year in college in the G League or a year overseas before entering the NBA.
By that logic, I think LeBron will make sure his final season coincides with the Brownies' rookie season, which is roughly in 2024-25. By then, LeBron may no longer have the dominance it once had. But I think he'd be willing to accept a status drop and a modest pay cut so he could play on the same team as his son. So, I expect LeBron to stay in free agency until it is revealed which team will pick his son.
Shaun Powell: James will have two more top-level seasons and is unlikely to extend his career in order to make more money
LeBron's remaining years as a player do not depend entirely on him, but also depend on the arrangement of the basketball god. Because once you slip here, sprain your ankle there, or strain a muscle somewhere else, your body can have problems. My hunch is that he probably has two more seasons of health and top performance, and I mean the season of being an All-Star. Then he will consider retiring.
Will he be like Hall of Famers like Karim Abdul-Abdul-Abdul-Abdul-Abdul-Abdul and Robert Parrish who are no longer popular because they stayed in the league for too long? Unlikely — his self-esteem, and the fact that he's not short of money, will prevent him from following in his footsteps. The fairytale ending, of course, is that LeBron only hits a year-old teammate with his son Brownie — either in the NBA (if the kid succeeds) or overseas career — and that's it.
John Schuhmann: James is still efficient and can get another contract after the current contract expires
I'm not LeBron James, and I'm not familiar with him enough to understand his ideas or know how much motivation he has to keep playing after his technical degradation and declining athleticism. So, it doesn't make sense for me to answer this question (especially the second question). In terms of his efficiency in each round of a single game (especially defensively), he is no longer the same person he was two years ago. And with each passing year, his chances of injury are higher.
Still, he's an efficient attacking player with consistent outside scoring, 68.8 percent paint shooting (fourth-best career), and a high level of passing. Even on the defensive end, he has the ability to play surprisingly once in a while and has the ability to play well. So, unless the chain is dropped in the next 16 months, he will certainly be able to continue playing after his current contract expires (expiring in 2023), if he is willing to make the necessary sacrifices.
Michael C. Wright: Looking forward to seeing James realize his dream of playing in the NBA with his son, he is a role model for people
To accurately quote James, I rummaged through boxes for his latest remarks about his future. Last month, when asked what he expected from his son Brownie's future, James was unabashed: "I want him to get into the NBA." I'm not lying to you, I want to show up on the pitch with him and I think that's going to be an incredible moment. He's about to be in his third year of high school, so it's getting closer. But we'll have to wait and see. "Based on this, I think LeBron will at least play long enough to realize this dream. What reason did he have not to do that? We all want to achieve so much.
If you don't consider some annoying injuries, the fact that the 37-year-old James is at the peak of his career, averaging 29.1 points per game (29.1 points) is the highest since the 2009-10 season. James' contract extension in 2020 expires in 2022-23, while Brownies will graduate from high school in 2023. In James' career, we've seen him smart enough to sign short-term contracts in order to give himself options. After his current contract with the Lakers expires, he is likely to sign a short-term contract, whether he chooses to stay with the team or join a new team.
On top of that, we've all heard that James spends $1.5 million a year on his body. So, James can play as long as he can, whether as a starter or as a substitute. As a father, I not only support him, but I also hope to one day witness the James family realize this dream. We should all have big dreams like LeBron.
(Compiler: Yongxin)