Judging from the current situation, James is indeed likely to go to other leagues to continue his career

(This article was published on September 16, and the author is CBS reporter Brad Crawford, and the content of the article does not represent the translator's views.)

LeBron James' professional basketball career will be decided by himself. According to ESPN's famous reporter Brain Windhorst, from a game perspective, as long as James is willing to accept the challenge of staying in shape, his future may be a long way to go.

He and his agent Ritchie Paul have remained silent since four-time FMVP winner James chose to execute his $52.6 million player option in July and continued to stay with the Lakers for his eighth season. James has not made any comments on the team rumors and rejected an interview in front of the camera in the summer league a few weeks later, and has remained silent about the upcoming new season since.

Later this month, James will attend training camp for the first time without a player option or contract for next season. With his current contract containing non-trade terms and unable to renew early, James is likely to become a full free agent next summer.

The Lakers signed a long-term contract extension with Doncic in this offseason and signed several players, but they did not make any longer-term investments in James.

Ritchie Paul revealed that LeBron and the Lakers have not yet had a substantial conversation on the new contract. "This statement can be interpreted in multiple ways. Maybe they (the team of James) already know what they will get, maybe they expect the Lakers to offer James, but they didn't provide the new contract that James asked for, so the Lakers refused (early renewal). That's the story behind their offseason."

In recent months, James has hinted at his retirement and will compete in his 23rd NBA season in his career. However, Windhorst does not think James is ready to leave the court. He pointed out that at the age of 40 last season, James still averaged 24.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 8.4 assists per game. "I can't talk about whether LeBron wants to continue playing on a mental level, but what I can tell you is that he doesn't play like a player who is about to retire. Of course, the premise is that he has to be willing to do it, and his body has to be able to bear it. I keep hearing people saying that this may be his last season, but if he stays healthy, I don't think James will slow down. Maybe he's tired of it all, but I don't think he's going to choose to retreat." In December last year, James said he thought he could play "five to seven years" at a "high level," but that's not his plan. As Windhorst calls “other leagues”, it refers to an international basketball league led by James’s business partner Maverick Carter.

According to Bloomberg, Maverick Carter is an advisor to an investor group that wants to raise $5 billion from private capital sources to create a league of six men's and six women's teams that will tour across different cities around the world.

This is not the first time James has been associated with the global expansion of basketball, whether as an investor, leader or player role. James and Maverick Carter reportedly met with well-known international agent Miško Ražnatović in July this year, whose agency Beo Basket has several top European players.

Beo Basket has established a partnership with Excel Sports brokerage in the United States, which has Jokic, the three-time MVP winner will wait until 2026 to negotiate his next contract with the Nuggets. Ben Horney, reporters from the US media Front Office Sports, Daniel Roberts and Alex Schiffer later confirmed that the meeting between James, Maverick Carter and Miško Ražnatović mainly revolves around international business and does not involve Jokic or the NBA.

As Windhorst suggests, by 2026, James will have multiple options to continue his professional basketball career, whether it's leaving Los Angeles for another NBA championship or possibly going global.

Original text: Brad Crawford

Compiled by: JayChan

source:vn cn 7m