LeBron James is returning for his 22nd season in the NBA with an unprecedented level of momentum behind him. The Los Angeles Lakers star is fresh off of leading Team USA to an Olympic gold medal, earning MVP honors for his consistently spectacular performances.
Despite his MVP quality and the presence of Lakers teammate Anthony Davis on the Team USA roster, James made surprising comments following the Olympics.
James became a three-time Olympic gold medalist in Paris, putting him at second all-time among men's basketball players. It wasn't just that James won with Team USA, however, but the fact that he bordered on dominance as he did so that has so many talking about next NBA season.
Rather than looking ahead to the 2024-25 campaign, James chose to cherish the opportunity to compete at the highest level—acknowledging that he may not have it again.
Per Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews:
LeBron James: “I'm 39 years old, it's my 22nd season. I don't know how many opportunities and moments I'm going to get like to be able to compete for something big and playing big games. And tonight was a big game.”
— Donatas Urbonas (@Urbodo) August 8, 2024
Considering how well James continues to play, it'd be a crying shame if the Lakers failed to position him to make at least one more run at a championship.
LeBron James doesn't know how many more big games he'll be playing in
Davis and James played essential roles during Team USA's run to yet another Olympic gold medal. During the 98-87 win over France in the final, James stuffed the stat sheet with 14 points, 10 assists, six rebounds, two steals, and a block, and made crucial plays on both ends of the floor.
Davis, meanwhile, tallied eight points, nine rebounds, six offensive boards, four blocks, and two steals while playing as many minutes as Bam Adebayo and Joel Embiid combined.
With this in mind, it'd be easy to jump to the conclusion that Davis and James are a strong enough duo to lead the Lakers to contender status. Compounded by the fact that they already have, winning a championship in 2020 and reaching the Conference Finals in 2023, it's less of a jump than an effortless hop.
Unfortunately, the Lakers lost in the first round of the 2024 NBA Playoffs and the optimism about their ability to contend went up in flames.
Considering that happened just one year after the team reached the Conference Finals, it's fair to question if the window has truly closed. Having defensive specialists Jarred Vanderbilt and Gabe Vincent for a combined 40 games in 2023-24 certainly didn't help the cause of building upon past success.
With Vanderbilt and Vincent back at 100 percent, and Dalton Knecht expected to make an impact as a rookie, the Lakers could contend once more.
It's likely that James is aware of all of this and wasn't actually commenting on the Lakers in any discernable way. Instead, he was just soaking in the moment of being a 22-year veteran who's still winning championships on any stage at all at 39 years of age.
Regardless, the sense of urgency is as powerful as ever before as James prepares for his 22nd season in the NBA and his his sixth with the title-hungry Lakers.