LeBron James can still get 30-point games and make a great impact at times on the court for the Los Angeles Lakers as he enters the twilight of an illustrious career. He isn’t Prime Lebron James and his warts are showing the longer he stays on the court. But the crafty GOAT knows how to maximize his contributions, bide his time on the bench, until his number is called. It’s a drastic change but one that he’s embraced under the JJ Redick/Luka Doncic regime.
LeBron James Is Handling Late Stages Of Career Better Than Allen Iverson
Bron knows it’s almost time. Not sure when the moment was that he realized it. Maybe it was when Dillon Brooks went from being a scrub who tried to poke the bear, to a real nemesis and legit competition for the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.
Candace Parker was once the LeBron James of the WNBA, and it was three-time MVP A’ja Wilson, who convinced her that it was time to step aside gracefully and retire into a historic career in the booth. That was the case when Parker joined the Las Vegas Aces in 2023 and realized the former South Carolina Gamecock, in her fifth WNBA season, has got next.
Candace Parker Was Ready To Move On From Basketball
LeBron James has accepted his fate and is still experiencing success as he goes from a superstar to a third option. He’s actually made the transition so seamless because as players enter the late stages of their careers, they experience what Parker calls an “arc of humility.”
“When you’re young and brash, your humble meter is low, probably. You think you can do anything. In the middle of your career, you start figuring out the game. You understand who you are. You still think you can do whatever and you still can be the best. The end of your career — I think that really determines what you’re gonna be like. Are you going to choose to be humble and honest in looking at yourself and what you’re capable of? Or are you going to continue to live in this facade of what was?” she said on “All The Smoke podcast” with Matt Barnes.
Parker says when she joined the defending champions Aces after dominating and leading teams to championships her entire basketball life, she agreed to become a role player before her season was cut short as she underwent surgery for a foot fracture. An injury she could no longer play through as she had in the past.
Candace Parker Didn’t Want To Be Allen Iverson
She looked forward to teaming up with Wilson who was in her basketball prime and coming off an MVP season. At the same time, she’s not sure how she would have handled coming off the bench.
“Aces made me realize that I am so much more than basketball. But it also made me realize that I’m not the Allen Iverson that can go play a role on the Detroit Pistons,” Parker said.
Parker says she didn’t sweat being on a team where she wasn’t the superstar or primary ball controller. She also wasn’t going to prolong her career for the sake of chasing numbers or because she couldn’t leave the past behind, as she insinuated Allen Iverson was unable to do.
Iverson had a stellar career in Philly and then joined the Nuggets and eventually the Pistons, where his career unceremoniously fizzled out because he refused to come off the bench. His reluctance to scale back his Alpha mentality forced him into an unhappy retirement. Because of those things, it took the diminutive dynamo years to get the proper celebration of his career, especially from the city of Philly, where he eventually returned to retire.
Candace Parker Used Final Season To Mentor Rise Of A’ja Wilson
Being a spectator for the first time and mentor to Wilson really satisfied Parker.
“That was the ‘Aha’ moment where I was like, A’ja is getting busy, she’s MVP. I’m like — she’s got years to come. I want to help her grow in that way and be a support system. So sitting on the sideline watching 2023 championship, I was super happy because of the great people that I was a part of it with,” she said.
That moment also fueled her quick rise in the media following her retirement after winning her third WNBA championship from the bench. She saw the changing of the guard firsthand. Similar to LeBron, as he watched Luka Doncic become the centerpiece of the Lakers’ franchise and is actually participating positively in making that happen.
“I think it taught me just as much as the other two championships. I think it taught me I’m okay in this life. I’m okay with what I have done to move forward with that mindset and it’s okay to leave that behind,” she concluded.
Parker makes some interesting points. Some may consider her mentality old school, but she is. She would rather retire, than tarnish her legacy by sticking around too long. It’s something she feels Allen Iverson got wrong, but it seems LeBron James is getting it right.
