Carmelo Anthony Believes LeBron James Should Retire From NBA With Los Angeles Lakers

Hall of Famer Carmelo Anthony believes LeBron James should retire from the NBA with the Los Angeles Lakers.

James turns 41 in December. He has one year left on his contract with the Lakers.

“I don’t know (what he will do), but he should end his years with the Lakers,” Carmelo Anthony said about LeBron James, via Poker Scout. “You’re talking about somebody who wants to win championships, and he wants to be put into the right position to win it. It’s a lot of talk around him, surrounding him and surrounding the Lakers, like it is every single year. He’s just going to go out there and play.”

James becomes an unrestricted free agent next offseason for the first time since 2018. It’s unknown if the leading scorer in NBA history will play next season.

A future Hall of Famer, James joined the Lakers in 2018. He led the franchise to the 2020 championship against the Miami Heat at the Walt Disney World bubble.

LAL acquired Luka Dončić from the Dallas Mavericks last season. For the first time in his legendary career, James is not the most important player on his team.

It will be intriguing to see if James retires after this season or chooses to play in the 2026-27 season. The Akron native averaged 24.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, 8.2 assists, 1.0 steals and 0.6 blocks for the Lakers last season in 70 games. He finished sixth in MVP voting and made the All-NBA Second Team.

“I have spoken to him, I haven’t spoken to him about basketball,” Anthony said about James. “It’s really hard to speak about basketball when the season is out and people are gearing back up. It’s hard to speak about it because people are just wanting to have that moment, that space and that clarity that they don’t want to think basketball until they have to think basketball.”

James enters this season with career averages of 27.0 points, 7.5 rebounds, 7.4 assists, 1.5 steals and 0.7 blocks with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Heat and Lakers. He’s the oldest active player in the NBA.