LeBRON JAMES turned 40 this week and remains the face of the NBA and among the league's top players. The Los Angeles Lakers star has faced retirement questions for half a decade but believes he has plenty of gas in the tank - should he continue. James is averaging 23.
5 points, 9 assists and 8.9 rebounds with the Lakers sitting fifth in the Western Conference. The King teased his millions-strong global fan base by stating he could still perform in the NBA for up to SEVEN more years.
.. if he wanted to.
He told reporters: "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. "But I'm not going to do that." read more nba news James is already the NBA 's highest-ever points scorer, the only player to reach 40,000 points and only the second player, after Vince Carter, to play in 22 seasons.
He will become the 32 second player to play a game in his 40s and he has four titles, four MVPs, 20 All-Star selections, 20 All-NBA selections and three Olympic gold medals. In short, there is little left for him to achieve in his career. LeBron previously stated his final goal was to play alongside his son, Bronny, in an NBA game - which he achieved on opening night, becoming the first father-son duo to do so.
Most read in Basketball Asked what it feels like to be 40, he replied: "I had a decade of the 30s, so to just wake up and just be.