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Historic LeBron James Announcement Made on Wednesday

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Emily Bicks | Last updated May 21, 2025 9:10 PM ET

The Los Angeles Lakers postseason journey came to an abrupt end following their Game 5 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves earlier this month.

After the loss, Lakers star LeBron James, who at age 40, averaged 24.4 points, 8.2 assists and 7.8 rebounds a game during the regular season, he faced questions on his plan to return and play for what would be his 23rd season in the NBA.

“I don’t know. I don’t have an answer to that,” James said. “Something I’ll sit down with my family, my wife and my support group and just kind of talk through it and see what happens. Just have a conversation with myself on how long I want to continue to play.

“I don’t know the answer to that right now, to be honest. So, we’ll see.”

While the four-time NBA champion gave a vague response, he's expected to return and play for the 2025-26 NBA season.

Not only does he have a player option to make $52.6 million next season, it's hard to imagine he'll pass up a second year playing alongside his eldest son, Bronny James.

Before the Eastern Conference Finals kicked off on Wednesday, the NBA announced this year's MVP Award went to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder and all the league finalists.

James finished sixth in the NBA MVP voting, receiving one fourth-place vote and 13 fifth-place votes, breaking two historic records in the process.

LeBron James has replaced Michael Jordan as the oldest player in NBA history to receive MVP votes.

He's now both the youngest (at age 19) and oldest player (at age 40) ever to receive MVP votes.
— HoopsHype (@hoopshype) May 21, 2025

James extended his own NBA record of receiving MVP votes for a 20th season, the AP's Tim Reynolds announced. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is second (17 seasons) with Tim Duncan in third (16).

The Lakers star also "replaced Michael Jordan as the older player in NBA history to receive MVP votes," according to HoopsHype. "He's now both the youngest (at age 19) and oldest players (at age 40) to ever receive MVP votes."

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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