LeBron James is defeating Father Time, but it's right around the corner

Father time has not won the battle against LeBron James yet as the NBA's all-time leading scorer put together another one of his many legendary performances against the Brooklyn Nets. The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Nets 116-104 as James finished with 40 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, a standing ovation, and shot 9/10 from beyond the arc.

His 40 points ties his highest output so far this season, and his nine three-pointers made matches his career high. It's inexplicable what James is doing in his 21st season and while he's still giving elite-level performances it's important not to take him for granted, and to appreciate his sustained greatness because chances are we will never see another player like him in our lifetime.

The NBA has evolved into more of a three point shooting league and James has been able to adapt by becoming more of a shooting threat from distance. This season James is having the best three-point shooting season of his career connecting on 41.6% of his attempts. James credits his three-point success to his health and the ability to get on the practice floor between games (h/t Spectrum SportsNet).

"“I’ve been able to be on the floor a lot more during non-game days. My foot has felt a lot better, I didn’t have much time to really rep a lot last year because I had to make sure that I could be on the floor running around or putting much pounding on the floor for my foot. I’ve had a lot of opportunity to get on the floor (this year). You guys see me before every game out on the floor working on my game, working on my craft. So that has helped out a lot too. Just try to stay consistent with my shot. Same shot every time and just work. Work, work, work, work, work.”"

James also discussed the motivation behind improving his three-point shot and teams' mindset when typically guarding him:

LeBron James won't defeat Father Time forever

Something worth noting however is that in his postgame interview James was asked how much longer does he see himself playing in the NBA? James responded by saying that he doesn't have much time left in the NBA.

James has a $51.4 million dollar player option next season and according to Jovan Buha from The Athletic, James has five realistic options he'll weigh in the offseason. Those being:

• Opt into his contract for next season with the Lakers.
• Opt in and extend with the Lakers for as much as three years and $164 million.
• Opt out and re-sign with the Lakers for as much as three years, $162 million.
• Opt out and sign with another team for as much as three years, $157.5 million.
• Retire.

According to team and league sources, there's a desire from the two sides to continue their partnership and have him retire as a Laker. The Lakers cannot afford to let him go; even though James will be turning 40 years old in December, he's currently showing no signs of slowing down and has helped the franchise regain competitiveness and relevance.

The championship window for this team remains open as long as James continues to perform at this level or similar but, how the front office constructs the roster in the coming years will be the biggest key moving forward.