First it was Charles Barkley, and now NBA analyst and LeBron’s former Cavs teammate Kendrick Perkins has joined him in saying that LeBron James should retire very soon.
Perkins stressed that it’s not because he doesn’t want to see the league’s all-time greatest scorer keep playing. But because he thinks the longer LeBron continues his career, it has the potential to damage his legacy.
“At the end of the day, I hate to say it, but I believe this in my soul right now. I wish LeBron James would retire,” Perkins said on Monday’s First Take.
“Not because I don’t want to see more of LeBron James, not because I don’t appreciate LeBron James. But I honestly believe deep down inside, the more LeBron James continues to play the game of basketball, the more it’s going to hurt his legacy and the more it’s going to continue to hurt his GOAT argument.”
It has been a slow decline from 2020 since the Lakers and LeBron won the championship.
The purple and gold have been eliminated in the first round twice and missed the postseason entirely in 2022.
James has won four championships in his storied career and the longer he plays, the further away he is getting from clinching another, Perkins says.
“Long as he steps foot on that floor, every single season, there’s gonna expectations of him winning a championship,” Perkins said. “And when he don’t do that, we’re gonna be looking at him saying: ‘Well what happened now?”‘
Many blamed the Lakers’ shortcomings this season on head coach Darvin Ham, who has since been fired.
But Perkins says there’s only so many times the coach can be blamed.
“So now you’re looking at the Lakers, they’re most likely going to re-sign LeBron James this upcoming season. If they don’t make it to the Finals or the Western Conference Finals, who’s going to be to blame then? I got a problem, man. And I’m telling you, I’m torn between the two.”
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