For the past two decades, LeBron James has been one of the faces of the NBA. He has routinely dominated the news cycle, and at times, even when he hasn’t made headlines for his stellar play, he has found other ways to keep his name in the news.
Whether he will call it quits at the end of this season or play another one or even two more seasons, James is clearly nearing the end of his career. Some may feel that the league and the sport in general will struggle without him, while others feel the NBA is in good hands thanks to a number of younger superstars who clearly got next.
ESPN personality Kendrick Perkins, a former teammate of James, is in the former camp. He said on “First Take” that the league isn’t ready for life after James’ retirement.
“Is the NBA ready for life without LeBron? Hell no. Hell no. They’re not…. When you talk about packing out arenas on the road, LeBron James does that in every arena that they pull up in that’s not at Crypto.com [Arena]. He’s been doing that for the past two-plus decades. When you talk about jersey sales, when you talk about selling shoes, along with delivering on the floor and making sure you don’t disappoint the fans and being available, he has done that.
“… We come on television every damn day and if LeBron James played the night before, we gonna talk about LeBron James the next day.”
The sport of basketball has big names such as Luka Doncic, Victor Wembanyama and Anthony Edwards waiting in the wings to fully take over once James calls it quits. But none of them may be able to develop the gravitas that James has had for many years, especially off the basketball court.
The sport will obviously go on, but it may be quite a while before it has another truly transformative figure who is on that same level.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Kendrick Perkins issues strong warning about post-LeBron James NBA
Reporting by Robert Marvi, LeBron Wire / LeBron Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
