It was just under a month ago that LeBron James’ teammates were greeting him with bleats. It was 24 April 2023 and James had just put up a historical statline of 22 points and 20 rebounds (James’ first 20-20 outing in his 20-year NBA career) in a playoff game. The bleats were yet another acknowledgement of James’ G.O.A.T. status after his dominant performance had given the Los Angeles Lakers a six-point Game 4 victory in overtime against their first-round playoff opponents, the Memphis Grizzlies. Well over 38, and a few months after he had broken Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s all-time scoring record, James looked truly unhindered by the march of time.
Cut to the present and James and his Lakers have been unceremoniously dumped out of the 2023 NBA playoffs by the Denver Nuggets. The Nuggets took just four games to end the Lakers’ playoff aspirations. The Lakers’ six-week postseason run came on the back of a formidable last few months of the regular season, after the team’s front office had turned over nearly one-third the roster at the league’s February trade deadline. The impressive playoff run had Lakers’ loyalists salivating at the prospect of the franchise winning it all and getting to a record 18th NBA title.
Sadly, this wasn’t meant to be.
Defeats and losses are part of the NBA’s annual postseason cycle. Legacies are made and legends are built up over the two-month course of the playoffs. Dynasties come to an end and new champions may emerge at the end of this period that culminates in mid-June. Consider the Golden State Warriors, whose defeat at the hands of James’ Lakers has led to widespread speculation that this is certainly the end of the golden era for the Dubs.
James’ situation is probably the same. Although he looked in fine fettle in the first two rounds, the Denver defeat exposed his frailties during his 16th playoff appearance. James often looked out of breath while playing in high-altitude Denver, missing easy baskets that, at his peak, he would have finished with an exclamation. His 20-20 game versus Memphis was an outlier as James struggled with his offensive game versus Denver. He struggled in the fourth quarter period of each contest and shot only 27 percent from three-point territory versus the Nuggets. It could be argued that the 24-year-old Austin Reaves, making his playoff debut, played a bigger role than James for the Lakers in the conference finals.
There is no shame in defeat for James. His resume remains unaffected by his latest playoff loss. His career achievements are second to none and, for many, he ranks as the greatest basketball player ever to have played the game. His work off the court is just as commendable as his game on the court. He may return to the NBA next season and still easily be a top-20 player in a league that has more than 450 players spread across 30 different rosters.
But would that be the correct decision for James?
Knowing when to walk away can be difficult for the best of athletes. More than the relentless march of time slowing down their physical skill, it is the superstar athlete’s unwavering pride that needs to be reined in at this late stage. For even as the body sends enough signals of a decline, the mind, enriched by several years of experience, refuses to acknowledge the inevitable. The ego stays on long after the eye-hand coordination has gone.
NBA history is replete with such examples. Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson came out of retirement after a four-year hiatus from the NBA to play in the league at the age of 36. Unfortunately, there was very little magic left in his game by that time. Michael Jordan returned to the NBA for a second time at the age of 38, but was never the same player he was at his peak. The late great Kobe Bryant walked away from the game at the age of 37, with injury having hampered his last few NBA seasons and well after he had passed his prime. Away from basketball, Roger Federer continued to play tennis until the age of 40, but had no silverware to show at the grand slam level in the final three years of his exemplary career.
James, for his part, has remained committed to wanting to share the court one day with his oldest son Bronny James. Bronny, who committed to the University of Southern California (USC) earlier this month, could land up with an NBA job as early as 2024, by which time James would be a few months shy of turning 40. It would certainly make for a wonderful spectacle to see the father-son duo on court together, the kind of moment that would send the internet into a tizzy.
But whether James can do justice to his hard-earned reputation at that stage remains an altogether different matter. In his last game of the series versus Denver, James scored 40 points, only his second 40-point playoff game since 2020. 31 of those points came in the first half, but James could score only nine more points in the remaining two quarters of the game. He even failed to launch the shot that may have forced overtime in Game 4 as Denver’s smothering defense denied him the opportunity to get the game-tying bucket. Clearly, the candle had burned brightest for James before blowing out.
These playoffs have proven James’ basketball mortality. It is up to him to embrace it.
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