LeBron “King” James may never win another NBA championship ring. However, LeBron the “Drama King” is definitely making his case for an Oscar.
On Monday, James shared a post on Instagram that showed him as a young high school player at St. Vincent-St. Mary in Akron, with a caption that contained a cryptic Jay-Z lyric reading, “I’m suppose to be #1 on everybody list. … We’ll see what happens when I no longer exist.”
LeBron made this post only days after publicly admitting he was seriously considering retirement.
LeBron. ὄ pic.twitter.com/HNCDtHpeZV
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) May 29, 2023
The lyric James quoted comes from Jay-Z’s song, What More Can I Say?
Discussion about James possibly retiring reached a fever pitch after he and the Lakers were swept out of the Western Conference Finals by the Nuggets last week. Speaking to reporters after Game 4, James made it clear that retirement was an option.
“We’ll see what happens going forward,” James said. “I don’t know. I don’t know. I’ve got a lot to think about, to be honest. Just for me personally going forward with the game of basketball, I’ve got a lot to think about.
LeBron James #6 of the Los Angeles Lakers sits on the bench prior to game four of the Western Conference Finals against the Denver Nuggets at Crypto.com Arena on May 22, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Harry How/Getty Images)
Reflecting on his injury-plagued 2023 season, James continued, “I guess I’ll reflect on my career when I’m done, but I don’t know. The only thing I concern myself with is being available to my teammates, and I don’t like the fact that I didn’t play as many games as I would have liked because of injury. That’s the only thing I care about, is being available to my teammates.”
James has had one of the greatest careers in the history of sports. Whenever he decides to hang em up, he’ll be remembered as one of the greatest players ever, regardless of his terrible business dealings with Nike and China. Still, one would hope he would not do the modern athlete retirement thing and drag out the process with a constant string of suggestion, implication, and overly dramatic rap song quotes.
If you’re going to retire, retire. Or don’t! Either way, be a man and do it. Be remembered as “The King,” not the “Drama King.”