A prominent person from the NBA community recently spoke out on the chances of LeBron James playing for Team USA next year at the 2024 Olympics. As many of us might be aware, Paul Pierce is a well-known NBA legend. After his playing career ended, Pierce remained relevant by becoming a member of the media.
As a result, it makes sense that Pierce had this take on LeBron. There is no denying that he knows LeBron better than the average player in the league. After all, they were both rivals and were able to face off in multiple matches until Paul retired after the 2016-2017 NBA season.
Many fans will be aware of the upcoming FIBA World Cup and the high expectations placed on the young stars competing for Team USA. Since LeBron is clearly not on this roster, we should take a deeper look at what Paul Pierce had to say.
Will LeBron James really feature for Team USA again?
Almost all NBA fans know how great King James is and his contributions to the game of basketball. Many experts and analysts believed that he was on his decline back in 2018. LeBron has certainly proved them wrong by continuing to play at a high level heading into Year 21.
However, playing at a high level isn’t good enough. After all, James and the Lakers were recently swept in the Western Conference Finals. After having eliminated Ja Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies and then Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors made the Lakers the favorites to win it all briefly.
The Nuggets clearly crushed those odds. LeBron even contemplated retirement in the post-game interview after being eliminated. Thankfully, he later clarified at the ESPY award ceremony that he wasn’t prepared to walk away from the game. He would continue to play as long as he could do so without cheating the game.
Nonetheless, we have to be heading toward the backend of LeBron’s career, whether fans like it or not. Since Paul Pierce likely knows this and the fact that Team USA would be competing in the Olympics next year, he made a statement on King James competing in his last Olympics, “I really think LeBron is going to go. I think LeBron will be there, this will be his final Olympics…I think he’ll go to the Olympics.”
We certainly hope that King James participates in the Olympics next year. Even if he has deteriorated to an extent from the toll of the season, fans will undoubtedly tune into the Olympics just to watch him play alongside the best stars in the game.
