rewrite this title At 40, LeBron says he could play ‘5-7’ more years

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — The gray in LeBron James’ beard was unmistakable as he addressed reporters on his 40th birthday Monday after Los Angeles Lakers practice.

“I had a decade of the 30s, so to just wake up and just be like, ‘Oh shoot, oh damn, you’re 40?'” James said, back with the team after missing Saturday’s game against the Sacramento Kings while recovering from an illness. “It’s kind of laughable, really, to know where I am, to see where I am still playing the game at a high level, still being such a young man but old in the scheme of how many years I got in this profession.”

James, who was the youngest player in league history to reach scoring milestones at 1,000 through 40,000 career points, is now just the second to play 22 seasons, tying Hall of Famer Vince Carter.

And when he faces his former team in the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday, he will become just the 32nd player to appear in an NBA game in his 40s, according to ESPN Research.

Though James admitted he has “of course” pondered retirement more than ever before, the four-time champion — fresh off a gold medal run with Team USA at the Paris Olympics, winning tournament MVP — said he could play a lot longer, should he so choose.

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“To be honest, if I really wanted to, I could probably play this game at a high level probably for about another — it’s weird that I might say this — but probably about another five to seven years, if I wanted to,” James said. “But I’m not going to do that.”

James’ production this season would support that claim. He is averaging 23.5 points on 49.6% shooting, 9.0 assists and 7.9 rebounds while appearing in 28 out of the Lakers’ 31 games.

When he was approaching Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s career scoring record during the 2022-23 campaign, James told ESPN the last goal he hoped to accomplish after the scoring feat would be to share the court with his son, Bronny James.

He achieved that objective on opening night this season, closing out the second quarter of L.A.’s win over the Minnesota Timberwolves with Bronny, whom the Lakers selected with the No. 55 pick in the second round of June’s draft.

“You came in as an 18-year-old kid and now you’re sitting here as a 40-year-old, 22-year vet with a 20-year-old in the NBA, as well,” James said Monday. “So, it’s pretty cool.”

James has since told ESPN that his last remaining motivation is the chance to compete for a fifth championship.

James was asked if the Lakers, who are currently just 1½ games out of the No. 4 spot in the Western Conference, won the title, would it prompt him to keep playing with a chance to compete for another one or free him up to walk away on top?

“You ask that question, the first person I thought about was Jason Kelce,” James said, referring to the former Philadelphia Eagles center who now works as an NFL analyst for ESPN. “Earlier this year, he had a sit-down [interview] with [Eagles quarterback] Jalen Hurts talking about that same factor, the fact that [the Eagles are] extremely good this year and have you had the thought of coming back and maybe not retiring? Of course [he has]. But he’s very happy with the decision he’s made.”

As for the Lakers?

“Right now, I think we’re a very good team,” James said. “I think we have a chance to compete with anybody in the league. Are we at a championship level? Can we win a championship right now? No, I don’t think so. But that’s good because we have so much room for improvement.

“I don’t know if that determines if I stick around longer because it doesn’t change my career in any sense or fashion.”

Though James was unsure of the Lakers’ championship chances, he was firmer in his belief that he will not play for another franchise.

“That’s the plan,” James said. “I would love for it to end here. That would be the plan. I came here to play the last stage of my career and to finish it off here. But I’m also not silly … [not] to know the business of basketball. But I think my relationship with this organization speaks for itself. And hopefully, I don’t got to go nowhere before my career is over.”