LeBron James Plots His Epic Series Finale

I don’t see a lot of difference between sports and soap operas. There are characters you feel invested in and plotlines filled with high drama, joy, and despair. Fans get DEEP in their feelings about twists and turns, but there are also divas who draw attention, whether you’re rooting for or against them. They loom so large that apathy becomes an impossibility.

Without question, the NBA’s biggest look-at-me diva of the last 20+ years is LeBron James. Dominant on and off the court, a champion, a mogul, and a role model for the athletic and industrious. It’s been 16 years since LeBron reached the height of his polarization, when the local kid-made-good story in Cleveland came to a sudden stop amid a much-maligned reality-show-style reveal that LeBron was taking his talents to South Beach to form an unrivaled super team with the Miami Heat.

In the years since, there has been the title-winning return to Cleveland, the legend-on-legend marriage with the Lakers, and now, following a somewhat surprising divorce, LeBron’s last dance, which will be preceded by one last lottery for his talents. And even at 41, those talents are game-changing.

I cannot help but view LeBron’s still-building legacy through the lens of intentionality and a quest for maximum exposure and impact. LeBron did not create the athlete-as-God media landscape that rose up around Michael Jordan, but he did learn from the example of his Airness and was hyperaware of a culture desperate for content and access.

Treated by the sporting press, the NBA, Nike, and numerous other entities as a product since his early high school days, it feels appropriate that, at some point, LeBron decided to embrace the interest and money available. At some point, it seems as though every decision needed to add narrative value to his ever-evolving brand.

None of that is said in judgment. It’s fascinating. Good game, God bless, and go get that money, LeBron. But when I see that his next/final destination as an NBA player is reportedly going to be decided, not by money, but by the pursuit of “complete happiness,” I question what defines happiness for the billionaire athlete/spokesperson whose post-playing-career ambitions may include team ownership or the White House down the road.

I don’t think LeBron is merely searching for a good on-court fit with a new batch of superstar teammates and superfriends. I don’t think it’s exclusively about winning a fifth ring and adding another momentous achievement to his resume, either. This seems like it’s about writing the best ending and selling it to the highest bidder.

A documentary or docuseries chronicling his own “Last Dance” is reportedly being discussed. And with that, LeBron’s final season becomes another place where sports, entertainment, and ambition can conspire to create the most digestible and airtight elevator pitch possible to the biggest audience possible.

To get that, LeBron had to leave the Lakers. Forget that he had become the third scoring option on Luka Dončić’s team and that they had seemingly topped out as a mid-level contender, unable to bolster a lineup clearly dwarfed by the superpowers of the NBA’s super conference in the West. The Lakers’ biggest ding wasn’t the likelihood of a middling end result; it was that nothing there felt particularly new. LeBron won his Lakers championship in 2020, he broke Kareem’s scoring record a few years later. His jersey will hang in the rafters next to Magic and Kobe. His time in LA wasn’t a story in need of a perfect ending, just an excuse to stop.

LeBron’s swan song doc needs to start somewhere new to be its most compelling. Maybe that’s a familiar place like Cleveland or Miami, supplying an interesting “comeback” layer to the story. Maybe it’s someplace like Dallas and a reunion with a former teammate like Kyrie Irving. An epic team-up can be a swaying factor, as well. LeBron+Steph Curry in Golden State? LeBron+Kevin Durant in Houston? LeBron+Anthony Edwards in Minnesota? LeBron+Nikola Jokić in Denver? A nice, easy run on a prebuilt contender, blatantly ring-chasing with the Spurs, Thunder, or Knicks? All things seem possible when an all-time great is suddenly willing to take a $50 million pay cut and bet that a perfect ending will eventually prove more lucrative.

The Knicks are a key case study in terms of residual impact. There’s winning a title, and then there is slaying a curse, as Jalen Brunson and the Knicks did. That team will live forever, surfing on an endless wave of goodwill and oft-repeated stories. LeBron is revered, but is he beloved? Can he close that gap?

The Kings, Hawks, Clippers, and Suns all have five-decade and beyond title droughts like the one the Knicks just ended. But are any of those teams a 41-year-old LeBron away from winning a title? And even if they were, does a documentary about LeBron breathing life into Sacramento or Phoenix sound all that compelling?

How about a Philadelphia 76ers team with a 43-year gap since their last title, a deep history only a few rungs below that of the Lakers, a young, deep, and talented roster (recently upgraded by the addition of 2024 NBA Finals MVP Jaylen Brown), and a spot in the weaker Eastern Conference, with built-in high-profile rivalries with the Knicks and Celtics. That’s my pick for LeBron as the best place to elevate his already high status among the greats, but the show is really just getting started.

While it might seem exhausting and engineered, I appreciate the drama and chaos of this. The monoculture is either dead or in deep hibernation, and true icons are in short supply. There’s no one on the immediate horizon with the juice that LeBron had and still has. The hype machine doesn’t work like it used to, partly because everyone thinks they can do what LeBron did just rolling out of bed. But the world isn’t the same, and neither are those wannabes. Like Michael Scott shouting that he declares bankruptcy on The Office, you cannot simply proclaim greatness. You have to work incredibly hard and incredibly smart for an incredibly long time, proving and reproving that greatness over and over again. That’s what LeBron is venturing to do one more time. He’s trying to be great and compelling, giving us a story worth our time and investment. While most series finales never manage to live up to the ridiculous expectations that surround them, I’m eager to see this one play out.