Just after agreeing to a $104 million deal with the Los Angeles Lakers that will allow him to play alongside his son Bronny, the legendary LeBron James has admitted that he may soon be retiring.
LeBron Addresses Retirement
In last month’s NBA draft, Bronny was chosen by the Lakers with the 55th pick in the second round. Days later, it was reported that LeBron had penned a new deal with the Lakers after opting out of the final year of his previous contract.
Under the new agreement, LeBron will stay on with the Lakers for the next two seasons. He and Bronny will also make history as the first ever father-and-son duo to play together in the NBA. That’s why it’s come as a surprise that LeBron is admitting now that retirement could “easily” be in the cards for him after all.
When asked over the weekend if retirement is in the near future for him, LeBron replied, “I mean it could be.”
“I’d never sit up here and say, ‘Oh um maybe not,'” he added. “Yeah, it could be. Easily. But we’ll see what happens.”
Bronny’s Secret Weapon
Skeptics have predicted that Bronny, a 19 year-old who only played one year of college basketball at USC, isn’t capable of reaching the heights that his father has in the NBA. Some say he’s not even NBA material at all. LeBron, however, is standing by his son and arguing that the teenager has a secret weapon that he never had himself.
“I don’t know if people really understand Bronny,” said LeBron, 39. “He doesn’t care. I actually care a little bit. When I came in (as a rookie), I wanted people to like me and some of the things that people were saying about me kind of bothered me early on in my career.”
In contrast, LeBron explained that his son “doesn’t give a…” before adding an expletive.
“He does not care about nobody. He doesn’t even listen to that stuff. He’s like the coolest. He’s like the complete opposite of his dad,” LeBron added. “His dad will say something (to address the critics). Bro does not care… everything that’s being said about him, he really does not care.”
Check out this full interview in the video below.
Related: Bronny James Just Signed A Multi-Million Dollar Deal With The Los Angeles Lakers
LeBron Defends Bronny
Over the course of his 21 year NBA career, LeBron has amassed a net worth of $1 billion. Many would argue that Bronny was born into a life of extreme privilege. However, LeBron would respond by pointing out that there’s actually some drawbacks to that.
“Just imagine if you were a kid, you were born into a situation where your dad was super famous, super wealthy and you the kid still had the drive to want to be able to accomplish things for yourself,” LeBron explained. “I personally don’t know if I would’ve been able to do that if the roles were reversed.”
“When I was coming up, I had no choice,” he added. “I literally had no choice. … I had to make it out for me. My mom, my family, my hometown, my city. Bronny has all the choices in the world. If Bronny wants to stop right now or never played basketball or just wanted to be a gamer or wanted to be a chef or wanted to be nothing to whatever, he could have done that.”
Whether you think Bronny deserves to be on the Lakers or not, it can’t be denied that seeing LeBron compete with his son will be a fascinating experience. Here’s hoping that LeBron holds off retirement long enough to create some memories with his son on the Lakers court that neither of them will ever forget!
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