LeBron James will be entering Year 17 of his future Hall of Fame career and Year 2 with the Los Angeles Lakers with little to nothing left to prove.
In terms of career accomplishments, James has done it all and his only goal now is to add some more championships to his collection.
Despite a surefire Hall of Fame career with all the accolades players often can only dream of, analysts are ready to begin the process of writing him off. All of this stemmed from a groin injury in the 2018-19 NBA season that caused the Lakers to eventually miss the playoffs.
So now with people doubting James more than they have his whole career, he has found a way to tune to it out, saying that he knows exactly what he’s capable of as a player — even in his 17th season, according to Joe Vardon of The Athletic:
“I know what I’m capable of, I know what I can still do in this game, even at this stage of my career,” LeBron told The Athletic. “When the dust settles, and it will, we’ll see.”
James mentioned that last season when the Lakers won just 37 games and failed to make the playoffs, the conversation was still about him and his team. He used that to say he simply doesn’t need the satisfaction of people telling him how good of a player he is:
“Even when I wasn’t in the playoffs, the Lakers and my name would come up throughout the whole thing,” LeBron said. “I know where I stand in this league so I don’t need that satisfaction.”
Although James doesn’t need the satisfaction, he will likely take some by proving everybody wrong about him and the Lakers this season. Although it was just preseason, James and Anthony Davis put the league on notice by forming likely the most formidable one-two punch since Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant.
James’ second season will be entirely focused on winning a championship with the best team the Lakers have assembled in at least a decade, all while showing people why choosing the Los Angeles Clippers over them was a mistake.
Right now, basketball fans are in love with the Kawhi Leonard–Paul George Los Angeles Clippers, which means the Lakers — no matter how good they prove to be — will be put on the backburner for them.
James saying things like this should scare opposing teams as he is ready for a revenge season like never before.
