Welcome back boys and girls to another edition of Basketball&Feelings, where I’m feeling surprisingly mild feelings about the fact that the Lakers got swept by the Denver Nuggets. Sure it sucks that we lost but for a team that was going absolutely nowhere before the All Star break, to have made it this far is enough to get me in the pool this summer. But the most interesting thing happened after the Lakers lost the series, and that is that Lebron said he may have played his last game in the NBA.
When I saw the clips from the press conference I was stunned. Lebron was genuinely in a moment of doubt regarding his NBA future. He looked exhausted, like he had just gotten it handed to him by Ivan Drago, like he was going through something. After twenty years in the NBA, and a lifetime in basketball, what he was going through, at least in the moments following the Lakers loss, was recognition that his time had passed and the moment was right for him to leave the game of basketball for good. As soon as I saw it, I rushed to another internet window and googled for more info, only to learn something even crazier.
Nobody believed Lebron. It was like he had announced to the world that he was a zombie, and everyone was just kinda reacting like, no you’re not, you’re in the middle of a press conference, how can you be dead. Overwhelmingly, the response from the basketball media and public seemed to be — Lebron is full of shit, he’s just saying he’s going to retire in order to get leverage over the Lakers so that they can sign Kyrie Irving. Essentially, in the eyes of most basketball media, Lebron’s potential retirement was nothing more than a negotiating tactic.
Okay, what Lebron is doing probably does have some strategic element to it, a strand of smoke and mirrors for future leverage, but mostly I just think the dude was having a moment where he was like really fucking tired, and as a result sincerely contemplating quits. If anything, it’s almost funny how much we’ve collectively gotten used to second guessing the guy. Our cynicism about his intentions has gotten out of control, and before it’s too late we should kick back and find some space for empathy, to actually appreciate the guy’s experience, and take his words at face value for once, especially when what he’s saying is so full of historical significance. Because even if Lebron James doesn’t retire next season, and my money says he won’t, the fact that he’s considering it is worth more than an eye roll.
A few weeks ago I wrote about James Harden, and something occurred to me the other day that I had not yet figured out then. The reason I think James Harden’s game pisses so many of us off is because James Harden doesn’t really care that much about being an NBA basketball player. I mean, he cares, but not in the way we want our athletes to care.
He treats playing in the NBA like a job, more or less — and I don’t think that sits well with people.
Most NBA fans, most humans, don’t have a job as cool as James Harden, so we expect him to, you know, put his soul into it or something, but nah, James Harden says, I’m good just going to work, making this bread, and going out to party with Lil Baby after the game. Well I say good for you, James, if 99% of us don’t give a shit about our jobs, why should you have to? Because at the end of the day, the NBA, as much as we love it, is a corporation, like Comcast, or Uber, or Spirit Airlines.
And Harden, and Lillard, and yeah Lebron James, they’re the labor. Some players, like Lebron, are going to care about the historical significance of the sport — about the Kareem’s — Magic’s — Bird’s who came before him in the ladder of legacy. Others, like Harden, just want a check, and have the skills to phone it in at the highest level.
So yeah, if for no other reason than tradition, when Lebron says he’s retiring, personally, I’m going to listen.
Till next tyme,
Allen