Why LeBron James Doesn’t Want to Be Like Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony When He Retires

LeBron James hasn’t made any official retirement decisions, but he’s already made clear what he doesn’t want to do when he does finally hang up his sneakers for the last time.

ESPN’s Dave McMenamin sat down with the Lakers star eight times this season to discuss various topics with one of the game’s GOATs. On Feb. 1 in New York City, the topic at hand was about a potential future in broadcasting for James. He shut that idea down quickly.

Even after watching many friends and former teammates like Dwyane Wade, Tracy McGrady and Carmelo Anthony take on the broadcasting roles and excelling, he doesn’t see himself taking a similar path.

“D-Wade, T-Mac, Melo, all of those guys are different. I don't really look at none of those guys [as examples to follow]. My journey is going to be my journey,” James said. “I respect everything that they all got going on, it's pretty cool, I love seeing Melo on TV now. He knows the game. I love seeing D-Wade do his thing. But, yeah, I am not really looking at them like that.”

Why isn’t James interested in having a broadcasting careers, like many of his former friends, teammates and greats that came before him? It’s all about family.

James has other plans for his inevitable retirement: spend time with his wife and kids. He’s in the midst of his record 23rd year in the league—he’s been playing for the majority of his life at this point. He’s ready to soak up family time that he rarely got to experience during his playing career.

“Hell yeah. My wife is going to get a lot of f---ing time because I've had to sacrifice not being with my wife a lot because I wanted to be the greatest player that ever played this game,” James said. “My daughter [Zhuri], I'm going to spend a lot of time with her because I spent the first 11 years of her life—or 12, whenever this s--- is over, 13—being away from her. My youngest son [Bryce] is in college. My family deserves all my time.”

The 41-year-old also wants some long-awaited “me time,” too.

“And then, me. I deserve my time, too. Because I've dedicated to this sport for so long that I'll be happy as f--- when it's all done to get the f--- away and give myself some grace.”

Now we just wait for James to make an official public announcement about his retirement timeline. The Lakers still remain in the playoffs, so we definitely won’t hear anything until after Los Angeles’s season is over. And there’s a good chance James will play another season, too (or even more after that? That man is unstoppable.)

The four-time NBA champion did a lot of reflecting in his talks with McMenamin, as he even dove into the highly debated “GOAT” conversation between him and Michael Jordan. James admitted that he doesn’t compare his game to MJ’s as they compete with different playing styles. That is part of the debate in the first place—it’s hard to compare two players who competed in different eras of basketball, something Jordan himself has mentioned.

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