James remains elite as he approaches record
LeBron James scored 47 points Friday night against the Hawks, on his 38th birthday, and his brilliance was intentional. It was a message to the rest of the NBA. The King still lives. He is still the King and he is still a premier player. While he may never win another MVP award or may not be considered a topfive player as he approaches 40, James remains elite in an unenviable situation with the Lakers.
The Lakers have won one title with James as the central figure, in 2020 in the bubble, when they were unquestionably the best team in the NBA before and after the season was suspended.
Since then, the Lakers have been a mess. They are 90-100 with one playoff appearance. General manager Rob Pelinka has tried to upgrade the roster by adding star power, but he has failed miserably, and this team is six games below .500 with a bunch of castoffs and declining players — other than Anthony Davis — surrounding James. As for Davis, he can’t stay healthy and was having an MVP-type season before his latest injury (right foot), which has cost him the last two weeks.
James realizes Father Time is approaching him with a summons, and he wants to play for a championship-caliber team for the remainder of his career. That can happen in Los Angeles but not likely until next season, at the earliest.
James and Davis are the only primary players signed past this season. The Lakers could wait until the summer to scrape up enough salary-cap space for a maximum player, add a premium point guard (Kyrie Irving?), and take their chances on making a run in 2023-24.
There are some drawbacks, especially when James has made it apparent he doesn’t want the Lakers to sacrifice seasons for the sake of the future.
“I think about how much longer I’m going to play the game,” he said. “I don’t want to finish my career playing at this [team] level. I still want to be able to compete for championships because I know what I can still bring to any ball club with the right pieces. I think about my son [Bronny] graduating high school soon and going off to college, and I’m still playing, and my youngest son [Bryce] will be a junior next year, and how much more time I’ll miss. Every day when it’s time for us to work, I lock in. For the most part, it’s been a good ride so far.”
The 47 points Friday brought James within 528 of breaking Kareem AbdulJabbar’s all-time scoring record, which could happen in February. James is eighth in the NBA in scoring this season at 28.5 points per game, and he would probably receive more accolades if the Lakers were winning. James is a prideful player who pays close attention to critics and the opinions of NBA players.
And he realizes that perhaps no other player in NBA history has played this well at this age.
“I kind of surprise myself sometimes,” he said. “When you look at the history of the game, it doesn’t seem that many have played at this level with this many years and this many miles on their résumé. I’m very humbled to be able to play the game at this level and still be a focal point of opposing teams. When they look at who they’re going against, I’m still up there at the top. That’s something I pride myself on, on being that level of player every single night.”
James remains a remarkable player, but he doesn’t want to be Kobe Bryant in his final years with the Lakers or Michael Jordan with the Wizards, a generational player putting up numbers for teams with no chance to win a championship. James’s 47-point outing was indicative of the game that remains, but he’s beginning to ask what’s the purpose when the Lakers can’t compete in the Western Conference?
“I don’t have a number [of years to keep playing], and as long as my mind stays in it, I can play at this level for a minute,” he said. “I’m a winner and I want to win. I want to give myself a chance to compete for championships. Playing basketball at this level just to be playing basketball is just not in my
DNA anymore. We’ll see what happens and how fresh my mind stays over the next couple of years.”