“Play until the wheels fall off,” that was the mindset LeBron James embraced during the Lakers’ 3-0 run in the 2024 playoffs against the Nuggets. However, this regular season has witnessed a dramatic shift. Contradicting his own statement, the soon-to-be 40-year-old star has hinted at retirement, suggesting that he won’t wait for the wheels to fall off. But instead may choose to hang up his boots sooner than expected. That would certainly be a sad day in the NBA world, but given his current form, it seems that day is still far off. LeBron is not done yet, especially as he stuffed his stat sheet with consecutive triple-doubles.

It certainly sounds like just another day in Los Angeles and another record for LeBron James. After smashing a triple-double against the Joel Embiid-less Sixers, the 4-time champion followed it up with another against the Raptors. With his incredible numbers, LeBron inked his name on another page of the NBA’s history books as the oldest player to notch triple-doubles in a row. But he made sure to give credit where it was due.

After his historic feat, the shoutout went to someone no one was expecting. LeBron acknowledged a fan who hollered at him to make one more rebound. “Boy, he definitely yelled at me. He got my attention. He said, one more rebound. I’m like, what? He was like, one more. So I got one more and I pointed at him to acknowledge that, I was listening. So appreciate it today guy,” LeBron said in a post-game locker room interview. Guess the fan just didn’t want attention, he also wanted the stats.

Following his dominant 21-12-13 performance on Friday, no one expected another masterclass so soon. LeBron was everywhere on the court for 35 minutes on Sunday night, from distributing 16 flawless passes to his teammates to snatching 10 rebounds as the Raptors attempted to shoot. After accumulating the incredible numbers and helping the Lakers win by 123-103, one thing was settled that LeBron’s is a “scorer” and that came directly from his head coach.

JJ Redick settles ever-lasting debate over LeBron James

During the post-game presser, Lakers HC JJ Redick was asked whether he would categorize LeBron as a scorer or a passer. Without thinking twice, Redick chose the former. Now there’s no two ways about the 20-time All-Star’s scoring abilities as last year on February 7, 2023, he showed the community who the NBA’s new all-time leading scorer is by surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s (38,387 points) record. And pushed the numbers to 40706. However, no one can doubt his playmaking skills as well.

LeBron in his 22nd NBA season has contributed 11098 assists and is fourth on ESPN’s overall list of assist leaders in the league. One never knows, by the time he announces retirement he might even top that list. John Stockton ensured with his 15806 assists that nobody surpasses him in the next few generations. So sticking to scoring is probably the best idea for LeBron till he calls it a day.