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LeBron James Admits He Never Expected to Play Until Age 40 in NBA

The Lakers star turned 40 on Monday.

Madison Williams

Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James dribbles the ball.
Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James dribbles the ball. / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
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LeBron James turned 40 years old on Monday, and his birthday's given him a chance to reflect on his nearly 22-year NBA career.

When asked if he ever expected to still be competing in the NBA when he was 40, James was honest: He never would've imagined it.

"No, of course not," James said when asked if he thought he would be playing 22 seasons. "I didn't give myself a timetable on how long I was going to play the game, I just told myself I wanted to maximize the time that I had in the league and try to be the greatest I could be. No, I would never have been able to say at 18 when I was drafted that I would still be playing at 40."

The Los Angeles Lakers star has etched his name in the NBA history books throughout his entire career, and he hasn't made any public plans to retire quite yet. Regardless, it's been an amazing career so far for James—check out some of his best moments here.

James will compete against his hometown and former team the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night.

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Madison Williams
MADISON WILLIAMS

Madison Williams is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, where she specializes in tennis but covers a wide range of sports from a national perspective. Before joining SI in 2022, Williams worked at The Sporting News. Having graduated from Augustana College, she completed a master’s in sports media at Northwestern University. She is a dog mom and an avid reader.

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