LOS ANGELES — LeBron James had just played in the NBA All-Star Game for the 22nd straight time when he stepped into the crowded hallway off the court. He was on a mission — a golf trip in Mexico waiting for him — and he moved with determination through the crowd of NBA staffers, league security and media.
Outside the main interview room, I was waiting to see if James would hold his second news conference of the day (he had spoken pregame). He looked up, saw me and recognized why I was there.
We made eye contact and he smiled before sticking his tongue out and blowing a raspberry. Then he was off — the fart noise his last semi-official comment of the weekend and, technically, an exclusive for The Athletic.
There was a time when witnessing James was a totally different experience: the best player in the world captivating everyone’s attention with an unmatched combination of size, skill, strength and charisma. You had to lock in to watch because James wasn’t just meeting the hype — he was sprinting past it.
Witnessing the present is incredibly different, but no less exhilarating. The sense among sources around James is that he was sincere on All-Star Sunday when he told reporters he didn’t know what his future would look like. His teammates and coaches have been guessing what could be next, without any real consensus.
For the first time in his professional life, James won’t have full control of his destiny if he wants to keep playing. He’ll be a 41-year-old unrestricted free agent entering an offseason with limited suitors and even less available cap space. His time with the Los Angeles Lakers, where he’s spent the longest consecutive stretch of his career, very well could be over after this season.
It makes every night suspenseful. Every game could be the last something: the last game-winner, the last chasedown block, the last poster dunk. And still, crazily enough, there are occasional firsts.
Saturday in Golden State, it was sharing the floor pregame with his daughter, Zhuri, and having her fly home with the team on a private plane. In between, he scored 20 points in the first half. Sunday, he had a pair of highlight dunks sandwiching a one-handed stuff that the front of the rim defended like prime Hakeem Olajuwon.
He’s clearly still good enough to contribute at a high level. And should he want to test the limits — trying to push the red gas gauge needle past E — the runway could be longer than anyone realizes.
And if James doesn’t want to play anymore, league sources remind The Athletic that those career-defining decisions — leaving Cleveland for Miami, returning home, joining the Lakers — weren’t made until well after seasons ended. While there’s a chance that James knows which way he’s leaning, one league source said James is also smart enough to know it would be foolish to make any permanent decisions in the emotional fog of an 82-game season.
It has put James in a fascinating position. He still deeply cares about winning. After losing to Oklahoma City before the break, he was as short and combative in his postgame interviews as ever. After the cameras turned off, he acknowledged his grumpiness, the kind of “get off my lawn” energy that can be forgiven considering he’s the league’s oldest player.
He’s also never had the kind of freedom this season has provided. For the first time in his basketball life, he’s not the most important person on his team. While that’s caused some awkwardness (his teams have orbited him like the sun for his entire career), it’s also unburdened him in ways he’s never felt.
Once James accepted that the Lakers were moving in Luka Dončić’s direction, it created more freedom for him as a pro than ever. His on-court silliness has trended up as he’s gotten closer to retirement (the Wendell Carter goggles GIF comes to mind), but this year, it’s hit some new highs.
Before a Lakers win in Denver this season, James found one of his friends, Nuggets assistant Jared Dudley, and pantomimed a crank with one hand while raising his middle finger of the other.
“I just think just trying to live in the moment and just not take for granted the opportunity of being present, especially in Year 23,” James said after playing Cleveland, a night where a tribute video moved him to tears. “I could very easily think about the future in Year 12 and Year 14 and even (Year) 15, but as the years stack on and stack on and stack on and stack on more, I think it’s more of a precedent for me to just be present in the moment.”
James seems comfortable not knowing about the future. These could credibly be his final months as an NBA player. These could credibly be his final months as a Laker. These could credibly be the launching pad to a 24th season — maybe even in Los Angeles — if things were to suddenly click into place.
It’s all on the table — the excitement coming from the options that exist without a safety net. It’s truly a wild time.
In the fourth quarter of the Lakers’ blowout win against Sacramento, James bounced off the balls of his feet down the court with his unmistakable bow-legged gait after swishing a 3. He made another, the crowd matching his energy. On the next Lakers possession, a rebound bounced off his head and out of bounds, James throwing his hands on his knees before laughing with the Kings bench.
Even his closest admirers had never seen a James heat check end this exact way. And the ones most invested had to smile, too, knowing they can’t be sure they’ll ever get to see something quite like it again.