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LeBron James Got Honest When Asked About Holding Off Retirement to Play With Son Bryce

Liam McKeone

LeBron James touched on the possibility of playing with his second son, Bryce, at Lakers media day on Monday.
LeBron James touched on the possibility of playing with his second son, Bryce, at Lakers media day on Monday. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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LeBron James appeared at one of his final NBA media days on Monday in Los Angeles for the Lakers. James does not yet know when he'll retire, but he acknowledged it was "soon" when speaking to media ahead of his 23rd NBA season. But as he'll be suiting up for the upcoming campaign, questions will persist about when he may finally hang up the sneakers.

On Monday he received a version of that question—with a key caveat. James was asked if he would hold off retirement in the coming years in order to play with his second son, Bryce James, who is about to embark upon his freshman year at Arizona playing for the Wildcats. LeBron, of course, is set to play his second season with his oldest son Bronny. He got honest about the possibility of playing with Bryce when asked.

"No, I'm not waiting on Bryce," LeBron said. "I don't know what his timeline is. He's his own young man now. He's down in Tuscon. We'll see what happens this year, next year, but he has his own timeline. I've got my timeline. I don't know if they quite match up. We'll see."

James struck quite a different tone a few years ago when asked about playing with Bronny. He made it very clear that was a huge goal and one of his primary motivating factors that kept him playing even after hitting the 20-year mark. And obviously he made that dream reality. But it seems he views the situation with Bryce differently.

Which makes plenty of sense. LeBron is in his 40s. He won't play forever, as hard as that is to grasp for everybody who has watched him all these years. Not to mention Bryce's path to the NBA is not as clear as Bronny's was; Bryce was a three-star prospect before committing to Arizona while Bronny was evaluated as a four-star recruit. If Bryce surprises as a freshman and declares like his brother then maybe that'll change the equation for LeBron.

But for now, as the man himself said: he's got his timeline, and Bryce has his own.

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Liam McKeone
LIAM MCKEONE

Liam McKeone is a senior writer for the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has been in the industry as a content creator since 2017, and prior to joining SI in May 2024, McKeone worked for NBC Sports Boston and The Big Lead. In addition to his work as a writer, he has hosted the Press Pass Podcast covering sports media and The Big Stream covering pop culture. A graduate of Fordham University, he is always up for a good debate and enjoys loudly arguing about sports, rap music, books and video games. McKeone has been a member of the National Sports Media Association since 2020.

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