Jeff Teague Wishes for LeBron James’ Retirement to Avoid Michael Jordan-like Ending to Career

Former NBA player Jeff Teague feels LeBron James should retire at the end of this season.

Jeff Teague Wishes for LeBron James’ Retirement to Avoid Michael Jordan-like Ending to Career

Jeff Teague on LeBron James (Image credits - Firstsportz)

There is no doubt that LeBron James is arguably the greatest player to ever play the game of basketball and is often compared to Michael Jordan in the GOAT debate. James is coming off his 41st birthday on Tuesday night. But the celebrations did not go as planned, as the Los Angeles Lakers suffered a 128-106 blowout to the Detroit Pistons at the Crypto.com Arena.

Throughout his illustrious career, LeBron James‘ accomplishments have been compared with Michael Jordan. While Jordan usually stays away from the public eye, James is still an active player. Jordan spent 13 seasons with the Chicago Bulls, achieving all his success and accolades with the franchise.

After winning his sixth championship, Jordan decided to retire in 1998. In 2001, the five-time NBA MVP announced his return to the NBA at the age of 38. While Jordan averaged 22.9 and 20 points in his two seasons with the Washington Wizards, he was clearly not the player he once was.

The 2025-26 campaign represents James’ 23rd season in the NBA. A number no player has achieved in league history. After missing the first 14 games of the season due to injury, James had a slow start to the season.

The ‘King’ has started to show his old self in offense once again over the last few games but his lack of participation in defense has been a concern for the Lakers. James is currently averaging 20.3 points, 4.9 rebounds and 6.5 assists.

With Austin Reaves ruled out for a month, James’ load is expected to increase. But at 41, it is unfair to expect him to spend a lot of energy on both sides of the court. The poor defense of the Lakers is one of the main reasons why many do not see the Lakers as championship contenders this season.

Jeff Teague has made some questionable comments about James before and he was at it once again on the Club520 podcast. The former NBA champion feels that James should retire at the end of this season and not end his career like Jordan did with the Wizards.

He gotta retire this year. I can’t see Bron having rookie stats no more. That’s just not good for my love of the game. I never wanted him to have Michael Jordan stats at end of his career. This is Wizards Mike right here.

It still remains to be seen when James will call time and announce his retirement. But with the way things are going, he may have another season in his legs.

Jeff Teague on choosing between Luka Doncic and Cade Cunningham

While Nikola Jokic, reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Luka Doncic are the top-three contenders for the league-MVP award at this moment, Cade Cunningham and his performances have gone under the radar. The guard is averaging 26.5 points, 6.2 rebounds and 9.7 assists so far this season.

The Pistons sit at the top of the Eastern Conference standings with a 25-8 record and have been one of the best teams in the league this season, and this is largely due to the performances of their former number one pick in the 2021 NBA draft. Cunningham has finally started to show his potential after a rough start to his NBA career which was derailed by a long-term knee injury in his second season.

Cade Cunningham and Luka Doncic
Cade Cunningham (Left) and Luka Doncic (Right) (Image credits – Spectrum News)

Teague has been appreciative of Cunningham this season and even said he deserves to win the MVP this season. Recently, his comments on his podcast went viral as he said he would take Cunningham over Doncic.

I’d take Cade. He actually plays defense. Nobody says Cade is a cone. No disrespect to Luka. I think Luka one of the greatest offensive talents we ever seen. When everybody in the world knows you not gonna stop nobody, it’s kinda fu**ed up. Luka is a better scorer but it is not too far apart.

Cunningham is having a career-best season and deserves to be a strong candidate for the MVP award, especially considering he is not playing with any other All-Star level players.

Jordan Poole was supposed to be Klay Thompson’s replacement

After playing an important role for the Golden State Warriors in their 2022 championship run, Jordan Poole‘s career has taken some disappointing turns. After the 2022 NBA Championship, Poole was rewarded with a four-year contract with the Warriors.

But things went downhill when Poole had an altercation with veteran Draymond Green, which ended with Green striking the 26-year-old. Poole was eventually traded to the Wizards for Chris Paul. With Klay Thompson struggling with two long-term injuries and seeing a significant decline in his game, many expected Poole to be his replacement for the Warriors till things did not work out. Teague believes the Warriors’ championship window closed when they traded Poole.

After that championship run, Jordan Poole was their next ‘Alright, we’re gonna mold,’. Obviously, Steph’s gonna be here, but Jordan Poole is gonna be our next 25-point scorer. He was gonna replace Klay. Steph is Steph; he replaces Klay. We gonna be doing this all over again. And we probably get a couple of young, and somebody else wanna pull up.

After spending two seasons with the Wizards, Poole finds himself with the New Orleans Pelicans this season and has struggled to be the player he once was.

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