Age truly is a number when it comes to Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James as he’s poised to play an unprecedented Year 23 during the 2025-26 season.
James continues to play at a high level in the twilight of his career and the Lakers are banking on him being ready and available to help lead them through another deep playoff run.
Los Angeles has a much better roster heading into the regular season after adding quality veterans, plus getting a healthy and motivated Luka Doncic who dominated EuroBasket 2025 with Slovenia. Those ingredients coupled with LeBron give the Lakers one of the higher ceilings compared to some of the other projected playoff teams.
As far as when James knew he would be different from his peers, he revealed it hit him during his first year playing organized basketball, via Complex:
“I don’t want to say that first year. I just knew that I was a lot faster and bigger and I don’t wanna say stronger yet cause I was still a little skinny kid then but my first year playing organized football ever, we played six games and I got the MVP that year. I had 18 touchdowns in six games. And then right in that fall, the basketball season started, my first year ever playing organized basketball we went 6-0, won a championship. I was out there doing shit that I just shouldn’t have been doing so I thought I was pretty special then. Eighth grade, I went to a AAU national tournament in Orlando, Florida and we finished second. It was like, ‘You happy about finishing second?’ Shit, yeah like six, seven kids from Akron, Ohio, northeast Ohio, and we lost to a team from Southern California. At that point in time, in that tournament, I was like doing things that I hadn’t did the summer before. I had finally started dunking in games. We start winning games that we wasn’t supposed to be winning. I was making moves out on the floor and doing things that I was like dreaming about a couple of weeks before that. I was like, ‘Oh, shit’ This…yeah, it’s happening. So I think that was the moment.”
A physical marvel growing up, James was able to use his size, speed and athleticism to overwhelm opponents but his experience and IQ has also caught up. LeBron is truly a generational player and it’ll be exciting to see how much more he can do at the NBA level.
Tracy McGrady believes LeBron James would be GOAT if he played in triangle offense
LeBron James is one of the few players in NBA history who has a claim to be the GOAT, and Tracy McGrady believes the Lakers star would be the best ever had he played in the triangle offense.
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