During All-Star weekend on Saturday, LeBron James confirmed how he will retire, even if the date is TBD.
While speaking in a one-on-one with The Athletic's Jason Llyod, James expressed his desire to play at least one year with his son, Bronny, and that he will play wherever his son is playing the year before he retires.
“My last year will be played with my son,” James said to The Athletic. “Wherever Bronny is at, that’s where I’ll be. I would do whatever it takes to play with my son for one year. It’s not about the money at that point.”
Bronny James is currently a high school junior at Sierra Canyon School in California. If Bronny follows a traditional, one-and-done prospect path, the earliest he can play in the NBA is at the start of the 2024-25 season.
However, league commissioner Adam Silver said in 2019 that he plans on eliminating the one-and-done rule in the future. At the time, Silver said he and the NBPA needed to work out the details, and that the change was years away.
“There are a bunch of issues that need to be worked through between us and the players association, so it’s something we’re in active discussions about,” Silver said, via The Washington Post. “It’s a few years away, I think.”
If Silver gets rid of the rule before Bronny graduates high school, LeBron and Bronny could play together as early as 2023.
Still, no matter when Bronny enters the NBA, expect him and LeBron to form a father-son duo wherever he gets drafted.
