Will 2024 Be Last Olympics for Lakers’ LeBron James?

Aug 8, 2024; Paris, France; United States forward LeBron James (6) and point guard Stephen Curry (4) celebrate after the game against Serbia in a men’s basketball semifinal game during the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games at Accor Arena. Mandatory Credit: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports / Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports

Los Angeles Lakers 20-time All-NBA forward LeBron James is playing in his fourth Olympics, and will compete for his third gold medal on Saturday against Victor Wembanyama and Team France. He is joined on Team USA by his L.A. teammate Anthony Davis, who’ll be vying for his second gold medal.

A Herculean effort from James that resulted in a 16-point, 12-rebound, 10-assist triple-double (the fourth ever in Olympic men’s basketball — and James’ second such stat line) helped save the U.S. from an historic upset against three-time Denver Nuggets MVP center Nikola Jokic in the club’s semifinal round matchup on Thursday.

Following the game, James seems to have acknowledged that he is most likely playing in his final Olympics this year, per Basket News.

“It’s up there. I’m 39 years old, it’s my 22nd season. I don’t know how many opportunities and moments I’m going to get like this to be able to compete for something, to be able to compete for something big and playing big games,” James reflected. “And tonight was a big game.”

Across James’ five games of official Olympic competition this summer (the U.S. also played five warm-up games before arriving in Frances), the 6-foot-9 superstar is averaging 14.2 points on .674/.273/.714 shooting splits, 8.6 assists, 7.0 rebounds, and 1.2 steals a night.

LeBron James makes Olympic history in Team USA semifinal win
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James is gearing up for Team France, whom the U.S. defeated during the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 in the gold medal game — without James or Wembanyama present. The defensive anchor for Team France last time, four-time Defensive Player of the Year center Rudy Gobert, has barely played in the home nation’s club across the last two games, averaging four minutes per.

“Super competitive,” James said of Team France. “You know, they’ve been playing together for a while. Obviously, this is Wemby’s first Olympics but that team’s been playing together for quite a while. They’ve been feeding off the crowd, so we’re looking forward to that matchup.”

This summer, James inked a two-year, $101.4 million contract with Los Angeles as a free agent, a deal that will keep him rostered through the 2025-26 NBA season, when he’ll be turn 41. Will he still even be playing during the 2028 Los Angeles games, at age 43? He’ll already have set the all-time league record of seasons played, at 23, by completing his current deal. It seems fairly unlikely that, even if he stays in the league through 2028, he’ll suit up for Team USA a fifth time.