throwing down a reverse dunk<\/a>? That man is for-ty ONE!<\/p>\nTime \u2014 nor the Rockets\u2019 defense, for that matter \u2014 can\u2019t stop LeBron. Still, if he truly wants to defeat the most undefeated foe once and for all, James should retire.<\/p>\n
For so long, LeBron has picked out the biggest, baddest bully known to every athlete, Time, and made it bow to his whims. Even so, he should leave while he\u2019s ahead and still capable of blowing our minds \u2014 but before he makes us wonder why this balding, graying old dude in shorts can\u2019t stop anyone on defense \u2026 or why he can\u2019t finish at the rim through traffic \u2026 or why he can\u2019t lead a franchise back to a championship despite being the recipient of one of the highest salaries in the league.<\/p>\n
We won\u2019t have to disparage the end of LeBron\u2019s career, however, if he actually decides to end his career.<\/p>\n
Has any superstar athlete beaten Father Time? Not really. In a sport that has ruined a great number of bodies, Barry Sanders and Jim Brown, great as they were, bowed out early before they experienced the slow descent from their peaks. Tom Brady played into his 40s and even passed for 4,694 yards and 25 touchdowns in his final year, but I challenge anyone to find a more joyless season of \u201cgreatness.\u201d Brady starred as the miserable Man in the Arena, and for what? For his Tampa Bay Buccaneers to go 8-9 and lose in the wild-card game? Seems like the better play would\u2019ve been listening to Giselle.<\/p>\n
Also, in a game that requires the quick twitch of athleticism, Kobe Bryant, post-surgically repaired Achilles, never looked the same while languishing on a Lakers team that never won more than 27 games in his final three years. Michael Jordan averaged 20 points and made the All-Star team in his curtain call at 39 years old, but his reboot with the Washington Wizards ended ingloriously without a postseason appearance. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who once owned the all-time scoring record, played until he was 41, but judging by the decline of his production, he should\u2019ve taken up tai chi by age 38.<\/p>\n
Brady, Jordan \u2026 LeBron. He belongs at their lunch table and deserves to feast where only the GOATs can graze. Yet, he can surpass them and accomplish the one thing that not even the game changers of sport could. All he has to do now is sit down.<\/p>\n
At the conclusion of the Los Angeles Lakers\u2019 first-round series victory over Houston, James was sitting \u2026 and bragging. When James joined the NBA on Prime show following the win, studio host Taylor Rooks lobbed up a question about Father Time.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, I\u2019m kicking his (bum),\u201d James said, cheerfully and dismissively. \u201cHe can go to somebody else at this point; he already lost to me. It\u2019s over with.\u201d<\/p>\n
Udonis Haslem, James\u2019 former teammate, could be heard in the background cheering him on.<\/p>\n
\u201cKeep going,\u201d Haslem encouraged.<\/p>\n
James has kept it going, to an extent. He continues to make plenty of highlights, but he no longer possesses the high-octane energy to carry a roster on his 41-year-old back. Next season, he would benefit from having a more whole team, including a healthy Luka Don\u010di\u0107, around him, but logic \u2014 and the eye test \u2014 tells us more decline is coming.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a part of me that\u2019s just like Haslem and wants to see James play on. After 23 years, an NBA without LeBron James would just feel \u2026 weird. The day LeBron retires will be a sad one, because it feels as though he\u2019s always been around.<\/p>\n
James was the bridge from the Kobe-Shaq and Spurs years. Then, as he took control, he seamlessly navigated the league into its next era with superteams ruling the land, and players showing their power. LeBron hasn\u2019t done everything perfectly \u2014 and considering how he pump-faked his retirement ahead of this season, using it as a ploy to sell liquor, he still hasn\u2019t learned that saying \u201cI\u2019m going to take my talents to \u2026\u201d is never a good way to start a sentence. Yet LeBron hasn\u2019t missed.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s lived up to the impossible standards of being a boy king, \u201cThe Chosen One,\u201d winning four championships and rewriting history. In a league where the followers closely mimic the leader, he helped usher in a time when NBA athletes remembered that they, too, can be worldly citizens. He opened a school in his hometown and spoke out on social and cultural matters, and he did all this, not as a role player who can hide from media scrutiny, but as the most important figure in his sport.<\/p>\n
In this, the twilight of his career, LeBron still has the power. Over the Lakers somewhat \u2014 which explains how he can will the franchise into drafting his oldest son \u2014 and over Time. But for how long?<\/p>\n
He\u2019ll be a free agent this summer, and if he does return to the Lakers, it certainly won\u2019t be for the $52.6 million he made this season. Still, LeBron has options and could play elsewhere.<\/p>\n
I suspect he\u2019ll return for a 24th season. He\u2019s too good right now to just hang \u2018em up and become a volleyball dad for his daughter, Zhuri.<\/p>\n
James enjoys being an athlete and defying what people expect from someone his age, so much so that he clearly spent time crafting that chest-thumping quote he loves to say.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m in a battle with Father Time, and I\u2019m kind of taking it personal,\u201d James said, smirking, after a game in January. \u201cI\u2019m going to see how many more times I can be victorious over him. But I won\u2019t be one of those guys that won\u2019t be able to walk off the court, that\u2019s for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
That night in January, James seemed to understand that this can\u2019t last forever. One day, if he does stick around too long like some other washed-up athletes, then his career will end more melancholy than majestic. For now, he\u2019s winning.<\/p>\n
But if he wants to become the first superstar athlete to defeat Father Time, then James should get out now. This isn\u2019t waving the white flag, but rather realizing that Time shouldn\u2019t be tempted.<\/p>\n