INGLEWOOD — LeBron James doesn’t know what his future holds. He just wants to live.
Simple as that, James answered the question, one that comes with the gaggle of press assembled on All-Star Sunday. James might be more sentimental and visibly emotional while traversing his 23rd season, but no, James said, he hasn’t made a decision about retirement.
“I want to live,” James said during his press conference Sunday, the fourth time in his career he has spoken on a separate day than the rest of the All-Stars. “When I know, you guys will know. I don’t know. I have no idea. Just want to live – that’s all.”
Speaking to a room of reporters from around the globe, packed like sardines into rows of black-padded chairs in the Clippers’ press conference room, the Lakers star is still focused on the now, the present-day dynamics of a team searching for health as Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves and James turn their attention to the final 28 games of the season. The trio has hardly been available at the same time, as the Lakers have hiked to a 33-21 record to currently hold the fifth seed in the Western Conference. Doncic, Reaves and James have played in just 10 games together, and have started and finished just seven of those games on the court at the same time.
“I can’t state it any more clear – I mean, not quite sure how many games we’ve had where we’ve had a full roster,” said James, 41, who is finishing out the final year on his contract, which pays him $52.6 million. “Our success is going to come down to, obviously, I think our health. Our coaching staff (is) putting us in the right position. I think they’re going to give us a gameplan every night. But when it comes to what we have to work with, we have to actually go out and see it.”
“We haven’t been privy to having that opportunity much this year.”
Despite being 12 games over .500, he knows there is much work to do.
“I know that when we’ve played some of our best basketball this season, we look very good,” James said. “On the other side, when we’ve been terrible, we’ve looked disgusting. I think the most important [thing] is if we can get healthy, how many minutes we could be on the floor, how much chemistry we can build with the sprint starting.
“You would hope that you can have the regular season and kind of build that cohesiveness and things of that nature, but I’m hoping that if we can get healthy, that we can start to build that.”
“It’s [not about me],” James added, emphasizing that is focus is on the team, not individual uncertainty. “It’s gearing up towards the postseason, so it has nothing to do with that. It’s the same. Same motivation. Same mind factor. We’ve got past the marathon, and now the sprint is about to start.”
James has turned in a league-record 22 consecutive years on an All-Star court. The elder statesman of the NBA is still going, still competing and producing at levels of the league’s young core, recording averages of 22 points, 7.1 assists and 5.8 rebounds per game. Just Thursday, James became the oldest player in NBA history to record a triple-double during the Lakers’ victory over the Dallas Mavericks.
Alongside James on Sunday afternoon in Inglewood, a city and arena he made clear represents “a road game” regardless of the Los Angeles branding, 37-year-old veterans Kevin Durant and Steph Curry join the four-time MVP as a All-Star representees of the NBA’s old guard – a group that has journeyed through triumph and heartbreak in the the NBA Finals, as well as Olympic glory alongside and against one another.
“When it comes to me, Steph and KD, we’ll be interlocked for the rest of our careers, for sure,” James said. “And it’s been great to be able to have some moments with those guys, versus those guys, teaming up with those guys.”
San Antonio spurs star Victor Wembanyama is in just his second year of All-Star shine. He’s been alive for fewer years than James has dominated the NBA.
Eventually, James will pass the mantle of stardom and celebrity to the 7-foot-4 deviation from the mean of NBA history.
That, for now, won’t be Sunday. Wembanyama, 22, was asked Saturday if he would “shed a tear” when James decides to hang up his shoes and bid farewell to basketball.
“No,” Wembanyama said, smiling.
“I’m not going to shed a tear, but it is going to be very weird, for sure.”