Does Wife Savannah Want LeBron James to Hold Off Retirement for Younger Son Bryce?

It has long been known in the basketball fraternity that LeBron James will not retire from NBA Basketball till he can share the court with his eldest son LeBron James Jr. (better known as Bronny James or just Bronny). At 38 years of age, LeBron is officially the oldest player in the NBA, and he is showing no signs of slowing down.

But what about Bryce? The King’s younger son is about to enter college and at 16 years of age, is already 6’6. Having already expressed a desire to play with Bronny and still at the top of his game, can The Chosen One manage to set yet another record?

Where did this idea arise?

One day before NBA TipOff, LeBron shared a video on his Instagram. A Beats By Dre advertisement, the video starred a variety of people, including Manchester City’s star striker Erling Haaland. Set as a motivational video, it featured his wife Savannah, as one of the narrators, giving him the message to not slow down. She tells him to repeat his historic feats, in order to ensure that his name goes down in the annals of history. “Be 23, then 6, then back to 23 again”, she says, referencing James’ jersey number changes. “Break records like a broken record and put the league on notice, again”, referencing James’ vast array of NBA records, the least of which is the League record of most points scored. “Tell them you’re not done till you play with your son. Then do that, again”, she says towards the end of the video, throwing light on LeBron’s biggest dream: sharing the NBA court with his “Young Kings”.

While the video may be a promotional piece, it does serve as a unique insight into LeBron’s mind, and how he prepares himself to tackle the new season. More importantly, it almost serves as a guide to what makes the L-Train tick. Apart from a general love for the game, he is driven by family. He is driven by accolades, and a need to prove people wrong about what they think of him. And of course, his biggest driving force is and will always be the desire to be teammates with his son.

But as Savannah suggested in the video, could Bron Bron stay in the League long enough to play with Bryce as well?

NBA’s latest Draft Eligibility criteria

The NBA’s draft eligibility criteria are too long-winded and confusing to be understood by anyone other than League Officials, but in simple terms, all drafted players must be at least 19 years old during the calendar year of the draft. Any player who is not an “international player”, as defined in the CBA, must be at least one year removed from the graduation of his high school class.

According to these criteria, the earliest that Bronny can declare for the Draft is the 2024-2025 season. This would mean LeBron would, in an ideal world, be able to fulfill his wish of playing with his son in his 22nd year in the League. By the end of the ’24-’25 season, he would be 40 years of age, and one would think, slowly reaching the end of a vast and illustrious career.

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But what about Bryce? According to CURRENT criteria, he can declare for the NBA Draft as early as 2026. This would mean LeBron would have to wait another three years. But there is a slight hitch in this plan of action. The NBA’s CBA ( Collective Bargaining Agreement) is likely to change in the coming years, and with it, there could be a possible change in Draft Eligibility Criteria. If anything is changed in the current agreement, it would effectively time Bryce out of declaring in 2026, which would in turn mean that LeBron would not be able to play with him. Because let’s be realistic here, by the end of 2026, LeBron will be 42. The simple act of playing a professional sport is hard at 42, much less playing at the level we’ve come to expect from LBJ.

All this talk about LeBron’s age, however, does raise one important question.

Who was the League’s oldest ever player?

With Andre Iguodala announcing his retirement, LeBron James is now the oldest active player in the League. Nearly 20 years on from his debut game where he was the NBA’s youngest active player, King James finds himself on the other end of the spectrum.

But with the shattering of records always being a theme in LeBron’s career, will he be able to break the record of the NBA’s oldest player ever? Well, despite looking at the way he maintains his body and the ALL advancements in medical technology and post-game recovery, he might not be able to break Nat Hickey’s record of the League’s oldest player EVER. Nat Hickey was a coach who activated himself for two games with the Providence Steamrollers in 1948 as a 45-year-old. He scored two points.

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In the end, all this talk is simply speculation. We do not know if LeBron will be able to play with Bronny, much less Bryce, but it will be the least of his problems for now as he prepares to enter his record-breaking 21st season.