{"id":672225,"date":"2026-05-15T23:48:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T23:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/672225\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T23:48:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T23:48:11","slug":"paul-pierce-wants-lebron-james-to-retire-but-not-for-reason-you-expect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/672225\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul Pierce Wants LeBron James To Retire, But Not For Reason You Expect"},"content":{"rendered":"

Will LeBron James<\/a> retire from the NBA<\/a> this offseason? One of his biggest rivals, Paul Pierce<\/a>, offered his take on this sensitive subject.<\/p>\n

After the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> were swept by the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> in the Western Conference semifinals, James was asked if he’ll commit to a 24th season. The four-time MVP shared his thought process going into the summer.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

\u201cI think for me it\u2019s about the process. If I can commit to still being in love with the process of showing up to the arena 5\u00bd hours before a game to start preparing for a game, giving everything I got, diving for loose balls and doing everything that you know that it takes to go out and play,\u201d\u00a0James said, via ESPN<\/a>. \u201cShowing up to practices, 11 o\u2019clock practice, I\u2019m there at 8 o\u2019clock preparing my body, preparing my mind, preparing to practice, to put the work in. So I think for me, I\u2019ve always been in love with the process \u2026 so I think that would be a big factor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pierce discussed James’ future in the NBA during an appearance on former Celtics<\/a> teammate Kevin Garnett<\/a>‘s podcast.<\/p>\n

Believe it or not, Pierce thinks James should retire because he’s dealing with unfair expectations at the age of 41.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

“Just like for the simple fact that at the age that he still receives the criticism that he still does,” Pierce said.<\/a> “The greats wasn\u2019t getting this criticism late. Nobody was criticizing Kobe<\/a> when he wasn\u2019t going to the playoffs in his last year. They was just enjoying his moments. Like the same with Jordan in Washington\u2026 For the simple fact the man is 41 and we still critiquing him like he 25 and should be winning championships still.”<\/p>\n

\"May<\/p>\n

May 11, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) speaks with official Tony Brothers during the first half in game four of the second round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images\u00a9 Gary A&period; Vasquez-Imagn Images&period;<\/p>\n

Is LeBron going to play next season?<\/p>\n

James proved he’s still capable of playing a role on a contender, averaging 23.2 points, 7.3 assists and 6.7 rebounds per game this postseason.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, there’s a chance James will take less money from another team if the Lakers botch negotiations this offseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Lakers don\u2019t want to lose LeBron James, but they don\u2019t want to pay him $50 million. The rest of the league isn\u2019t going to come bidding at $50 million. \u2026 If you want LeBron to take a pay cut, you better bring him a reason to take a pay cut,\u201d\u00a0Windhorst said.<\/a>\u00a0\u201cI think LeBron would be open to that. But the concept that he\u2019s not as good anymore \u2013 you\u2019re not getting that from LeBron James. I\u2019ll tell you another thing: if you\u2019re the Lakers, if you force LeBron to leave, he\u2019ll go somewhere else and play for less money.\u201d<\/p>\n

If James were to leave Los Angeles, ESPN reporter Dave McMenamin believes the Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a>, Golden State Warriors<\/a> and New York Knicks<\/a> would emerge as his top suitors.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published by The Spun<\/a> on May 15, 2026, where it first appeared in the NBA<\/a> section. Add The Spun as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Will LeBron James retire from the NBA this offseason? One of his biggest rivals, Paul Pierce, offered his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":672226,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,5939,2357,8217,141904,65900,2327,8231,459,2901,3555,64256,82],"class_list":["post-672225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-celtics","tag-cleveland-cavaliers","tag-golden-state-warriors","tag-kevin-garnett","tag-kobe","tag-lebron-james","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-nba","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","tag-paul-pierce","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=672225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/672226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=672225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=672225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=672225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}