At 37-years-old, there is no doubt that LeBron James is closer to the end of his career than the beginning. The question is, will he stay with the Purple and Gold to the end?
James is currently in his 4th season in Los Angeles, and there has been no indication that he plans to leave any time soon. For Charles Oakley, neither fact is enough to convince him that the King has ruled out leaving the Lakers at some point in the near future.
Speaking on Sirius XM radio, the Knicks legend made the shocking claim about LBJ and his future, suggesting that he could chase one more Championship before deciding to call it quits.
“The Lakers don’t have cap space, they bring nobody in to get rid of AD. They need picks. You know LeBron, his legacy right now is he definitely wants to win a championship before he retires,” Oakley claimed on SiriusXM NBA Radio. “He might leave LA to get it. I don’t know if it will be Cleveland, could be somewhere else. He left twice. He’ll leave again.”
"He left twice… he'll leave again."@CharlesOakley34 tells @TheFrankIsola & @Scalabrine his thoughts on LeBron's future pic.twitter.com/xsxCbUd1qX
— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) February 1, 2022
LeBron’s chase for greatness is well known in the NBA community. The 17x All-Star, 17x All-NBA player, 4x MVP, and 4x Champion likely already has his sights set on the all-time scoring record.
If he wins another Championship, it will be a lot harder to deny his claim as basketball’s greatest player ever.
With the Lakers, it is still possible to meet that goal. With Anthony Davis, Russell Westbrook, and Carmelo Anthony at his side, the Purple and Gold have enough talent to compete with any team in the league. Putting it all together is where the team has struggled.
As James continues to age, will his patience wear thin? Does he really want to risk spending his last few years on a subpar team?
We’ll never know for sure what is running through LeBron’s mind. For now, all we can do is watch and see what he does next.
After all, it’s not like he has anything left to prove at this point of his storied 18-year career.
