LeBron James‘ 2025-26 season came to an end after the Oklahoma City Thunder swept the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Semifinals. As has been the case in recent years, there have been calls for the 41-year-old James to retire, and Paul Pierce, once one of his fiercest rivals, thinks he should.
Pierce explained on the Ticket & The Truth podcast why he doesn’t want to see James play in the NBA anymore despite still being productive.
“I think LeBron should retire,” Pierce said. “… Just for the simple fact that, at the age that he still receives the criticism that he still does.”
Co-host Kevin Garnett said everyone gets criticized, but Pierce pointed out that greats like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant were celebrated in their final seasons despite not making the playoffs.
“The greats wasn’t getting this criticism late,” Pierce said. “Nobody was criticizing Kobe when he wasn’t going to the playoffs in his last year. They was just enjoying his moments. Like the same with Jordan and Washington.”
Jordan received no criticism whatsoever for the Washington Wizards missing the playoffs in 2002 and 2003 after he came out of retirement. He was a bit younger back then than James is now, but no one killed him for the Wizards’ failures, and rightly so. Jordan was 38 when he first suited up for the Wizards and 40 when he retired.
As for Bryant, the Lakers missed the playoffs in his last three seasons in the NBA. Garnett mentioned injuries played a part in that, and they did.
“I’m just saying nobody was attacking him or criticizing him when they wasn’t going to the playoffs,” Pierce said. “Same with Jordan when he went to Washington. It was just enjoying them to continue to still play. For the simple fact, the man is 41 and we still critiquing him like he 25 and should be winning championships still.”
Pierce had little to no love for James during his playing career. They had some fierce playoff battles, but those scars have healed now. Pierce has been fairly objective when it comes to James in recent times, and he can’t wrap his head around all this criticism.
The expectations on James have been a bit unreasonable for a while now. It’s always championship or bust. James is allowed to have that mindset, but the outside world should not. We should appreciate the fact that someone this old is still operating at a high level.
James averaged 20.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, 7.2 assists, 1.2 steals, and 0.6 blocks per game for the Lakers in 2025-26. He made history even by just stepping onto the court, as he became the first player ever to play a 23rd season in the NBA. It shouldn’t be possible to put up those numbers with that much wear and tear on the body.
James then stunningly powered the Lakers past the Houston Rockets in the first round of the playoffs despite his co-stars missing time. The 22-time All-Star had taken a backseat to Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves in the second half of the season, but they then went down with injuries on April 2.
That meant James had to step up and be the first option. He delivered in some style in that role.
Now, the sweep to the Thunder obviously should not be held against James. The Lakers probably weren’t going to win that series even if Doncic had been healthy.
You do wonder now if that Game 4 against the Thunder will be James’ final game as a Laker. He is a free agent this offseason, and it will be interesting to see what he chooses to do. Retirement is an option, but it looks unlikely that’s the route he goes down.
A handful of teams, like the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers, have been linked to James. Returning to the Lakers remains a possibility as well.
If James does indeed play a 24th season, you’d hope the basketball world would show appreciation. He’s going to be sorely missed when he walks away, so enjoy watching him play while you still can.
