LeBron James makes bold statement about his future in the NBA

LeBron James is more than halfway through his 19th season in the NBA. That’s led to plenty of questions about when he’ll decide to retire as he gets older — and we might have gotten our answer.

James told The Athletic he plans to play his last season with his son, Bronny. Bronny James is a Class of 2023 recruit at Sierra Canyon School in California, meaning he’s a junior. According to NBA rules, Bronny will have to play a year in college or in the G-League before making the jump to the NBA.

That puts a rough timeline on how much longer LeBron will be playing in the NBA. Two years.

“My last year will be played with my son,” James said, via The Athletic’s Jason Lloyd. “Wherever Bronny is at, that’s where I’ll be. I would do whatever it takes to play with my son for one year. It’s not about the money at that point.”

What’s interesting about that timeline is James’ contract with the Los Angeles Lakers expires next year. That means his contract expires the same year Bronny graduates from high school, which could make for an interesting 2023 offseason and 2024 NBA Draft.

More on Bronny James and LeBron’s future

Bronny, a four-star recruit, is the No. 42 overall recruit from the Class of 2023 and the No. 2 recruit from the state of California, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He’s also one of the more high-profile Class of 2023, recruits, coming in with the No. 1 NIL Valuation in the On3 NIL 100.

He’s understandably garnered interest from plenty of college powerhouses, but the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine has North Carolina A&T and North Carolina Central as the most likely landing spots. It gives them both a 50% chance of landing Bronny’s commitment.

It’s been a rough year for LeBron and the Lakers. They took a 27-31 record into the All-Star Break, putting them in ninth place in the Western Conference standings. Questions swirled throughout the year about Frank Vogel’s job status as head coach and whether or not Los Angeles would make a move at the trade deadline last week, particularly involving Russell Westbrook. Instead, general manager Rob Pelinka opted to keep the current team in place.

Next up for the Lakers out of the All-Star Break is a matchup with the Los Angeles Clippers on Feb. 25 at Crypto.com Arena.