Charles Barkley SLAMS LeBron James for starting retirement rumors
The Los Angeles Lakers were swept 4-0 by the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals.
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LeBron James (L) and Charles Barkley (R) (Images via Fox News)
The Los Angeles Lakers‘ loss was a huge upset to fans and supporters. Playing in the Western Conference Finals, the Lakers were swept by the Denver Nuggets. After their massive 4-0 loss, many expected star forward LeBron James to come out looking frustrated. Instead, the veteran looked calm as he went on to shock the NBA world during the post-game interview.
James was talking about his plans going forward. As the forward said, he didn’t know about his future plans. Many speculate that he hinted at retirement. However, many fans and critics also believe that this was a clever strategy from James to shift the narrative. There have been many discussions on how James might’ve tried to shift the discussion from the embarrassing LA loss and Denver victory to himself. Quite recently, NBA analyst Charles Barkley spoke about the same.
“Well I was disappointed with LeBron because he had to know that these fools on TV were going to talk about it all the time.” Charles Barkley started presenting his views on the situation on the Pat McAfee Show. “I got so frustrated the other watching television, the first two stories were LeBron retiring. Not how great the Denver Nuggets played. How great the Joker (Nikola Jokic) is,” he said.
Barkley then went on to say that there’s no way LeBron James is retiring. “Hell, no LeBron ain’t gonna retire,” he said. “I love LeBron. But he knew what he was doing. First of all, he’s gonna make $50M the next two years. He ain’t walking away from $100M,” Barkley said. He was even asked about whether or not he thinks James spoke about retirement to steal the headlines from the Denver Nuggets. He replied by saying, “He definitely stole the headlines.”
Is LeBron James really going to retire?
LeBron James has been an absolute force of a player in the NBA. He was drafted in 2003 by the Cleveland Cavaliers and has had a mind-blowing career. The 2022-23 NBA season marked his 20th as he rounded up a great set of achievements. James, in these 20 years, has won four NBA championships, four league MVPs, four Finals MVPs, a 19-time All-Star and recently, the all time scoring leader tag.
Although James has been one of the fittest players in the league, age tends to catch up with every player. Moreover, currently, at 38, the Lakers star has already surpassed the average retirement age. While many assume that James could genuinely retire, many think that he’s in good shape for another couple of years.
Even though the Lakers got swept in the Conference Finals, James looked in good touch. He was playing close to 40 minutes every game with a sore foot. Moreover, he led the Lakers’ offense with 40 points in Game 4. Therefore, there’s no doubt that with the proper rest in the off-season, James could potentially come back and continue to be the prolific scorer that he is. However, with his recent comments about his retirement, it is uncertain if the forward would look to come back for his 21st season.
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Nikhil Sonmali
(1112 Articles Published)