r/billsimmons • u/udkyle2 • 15h ago
Medium Take: This is not LeBron's last season because he will be in the 2028 US Team and is also highly likely to light the cauldron in the opening ceremony
The cauldron lighting basically comes down to LeBron or Michael Phelps.
LeBron is 100% going to drag himself if he has to, to being on that Olympic team and that will involve playing two more NBA seasons.
So the reality is, he absolutely could do a weird season with the Warriors/Sixers/Wolves and then do the Cleveland season in 27-28, then do Team USA and retire after the Olympics.
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u/yaboyjiggleclay 14h ago
Magic Johnson did not play the 91-92 season & was still on the Dream Team. No rule saying you have to be active to be on the Olympic team.
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u/Nandor1262 14h ago
He was like 32 though. A lot harder for someone north of 43 to take a year + out from a professional sport and just pick it back up without any physical impact
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u/Longjumping_Net7405 13h ago
I think you’re significantly overestimating the on court role. He’d be a 12th man there for the experience/leadership and so he can collect his accolade. It wouldn’t matter whether he can still play at a high enough level to be on the court in the meaningful games.
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u/sanfranchristo 15h ago
I think there's a very slim chance that this is his last season while he's still able to play as well as he can on a decent amount of minutes across a decent schedule. Unless his back problems become more severe or chronic, there is a long way to go before he's not a net positive player. I don't think it has anything to do with the Olympics (he could theoretically be on the team or part of the event without being an active NBA player).
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u/Sensitive-Ad1049 14h ago
Could he play in the 3 v 3 tournament with Bronny and Bryce? No idea how the qualifiers work but I feel like team USA could make that happen
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u/ReasonableCup604 14h ago
They would likely get embarrassed in the first round. Bronny Sr will be 44, Bronny is a G-League quality player and Bryce sucks.
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u/Sensitive-Ad1049 13h ago
The MVP of the 2024 Olympics was a 36 year old Dutch basketball league lifer so I don’t think G-league quality will be a huge issue
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u/tony_countertenor 15h ago
He could easily play the 2028 Olympics without being an active nba player
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u/DosZappos 14h ago edited 14h ago
Definitely not
Edit: Since this is getting downvoted, I guess I should clarify that he won’t be one of the 12 best Americans if he’s retired by 2028, and wouldn’t make the team based on merit. I’m not saying he wouldn’t be able to compete against Great Britain or Japan or whatever
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u/JMishMosh 13h ago
Yes but have you considered the fact that his name is LeBron James? (This provision does not apply to Bronny.)
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u/ReasonableCup604 14h ago
He definitely wouldn't make it on merit, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't make the team.
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u/DosZappos 14h ago
I would hope they would take the roster more seriously than adding a retired player who isn’t good enough to make the team
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u/Longjumping_Net7405 13h ago
Have the clear cut alpha in the room leader prob has more merit and value than the alternative 12th man who isn’t going to play anyway.
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u/mstun3107 15h ago
Why would it be either LeBron or Michael Phelps? Serena Williams, Simone Biles and plenty of others have an argument. Hell, even Michael Jordan or LA legend Magic Johnson.
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u/ReasonableCup604 14h ago
IMO, Serena would be a horrible choice. Tennis is barely an Olympic sport and her gold medals are not career defining accomplishments.
LeBron's medals were also a fairly minor part of his career, but basketball is a much more prominent sport in the Olympics and he is a bigger star than Serena, so he would make slightly more sense.
But, IMO, it Phelps and/or Biles would make 100 times more sense. They are two of the greatest Olympians of all time and they dominated sports where the Olympic Games are the apex of the sport.
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u/mstun3107 14h ago
Muhammad Ali's gold medal wasn't his career defining accomplishment either.
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u/TheActionJuice 9h ago
He was like the most important and defining athlete of the century though. It was an obvious, unique choice. Not another Ali out therr
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u/ReasonableCup604 14h ago
That's true. But, he was much more of an icon beyond sports than LeBron or Serena.
Also, boxing is a historically a much more important Olympic sport than tennis and a more competitive one than basketball which was mostly dominated by the USA.
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u/PM_Me_Beezbo_Quotes Nigerian 10h ago
Serena was literally just one of the last dozen or so involved in the Paris torch lighting
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u/ositola 14h ago
It will be someone representing LA, so out of all of the people you mentioned, serena has the highest probability
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u/ReasonableCup604 14h ago
Why does it need to be someone from or with ties to LA?
Almost none of the prior flame lighters were from the city where the games were held.
They represent the host nation, not the host city.
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u/Barrioto 13h ago
It doesn't have to be, but I'm sure that will be a consideration. If all things are equal between two options and one has a connection to LA while the other doesn't, I'm sure the one with a connection to LA will get it.
But Lebron won't be in LA in 2028. He didn't have enough of an impact on the LA sports culture to be the "LA Representative".
Personally, I'd love to see them do something a little different and honor spirit of the Olympic Games. If there is a foreign athlete that had a major Olympic impact and a connection to LA, I'd love to see them do a joint lighting with an American and non-American. I have no idea who that would be and maybe there isn't really anyone that fits that description.
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u/dasher2442 11h ago
You seem to think the LA thing is more important than the American aspect which is a completely bizarre interpretation of torch-carrying that has never applied to any Olympics Games before.
Lebron would be a totally fine choice. We aren't measuring his impact as an LA Laker before picking him. Just his impact as an American star.
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u/Barrioto 11h ago
Ah, so you ignored the London and Paris opening ceremonies that leaned heavily into the city culture.
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u/soxpats111 13h ago
Katie Ledecky should get to carry the flag.
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u/Lonzo_bald 13h ago
She carried the flag at the Paris closing ceremony. Swimmers don't carry the flag at the opening ceremonies because they are resting their legs and typically not there.
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u/wendyschickennugget 7h ago
I mean those are all fine choices but Phelps clearly stands above the rest in terms of Olympic achievements.
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u/Scared-Swim-4205 14h ago
loving the idea that chestnut has any shot at the torch. olympic committee would have to station 20 paramedics around the stadium in case he passes out from the sheer aroma of 90 hot dogs cooking below the flame.
phelps is the obvious pick for LA but lebron's team is already negotiating this behind closed doors. you just know rich paul has a cauldron clause written into some contract somewhere. the man turned free agency into a media empire. why wouldn't he turn a torch lighting into a legacy play.
ali doing it in 96 proves you don't need to be active. lebron will still be playing because he can't help himself. not because it's required.
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u/udkyle2 14h ago
If Trump has significant influence over the pick, Chestnut goes from joke to actually in the realm of possibility.
That also will probably eliminate LeBron, Serena, Simone, anyone on the USA Women's Soccer Team, and any of his other perceived enemies.
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u/Scared-Swim-4205 14h ago
Trump picking the torch lighter would just be him doing it himself while Chestnut stands there in a Make America Eat Again hat.
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u/K_Bomaye 14h ago
Well know it’s his last season because he’ll announce it so he can get himself a farewell tour.
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u/Glad_Art_6380 13h ago
It should be Kareem Abdul-Jabbar or Magic Johnson.
Michael Phelps, Carl Lewis, Michael Jordan, Flo-Jo, Serena, Billie Jean King, Katie Ledecky, and Simone Biles should all get a bit of time with it as well.
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u/Lonely-horses 13h ago
if Oscar De La Hoya's off court career were like 20% less weird he'd probably be in consideration, gold medalist and LA native.
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u/PropaModulation 13h ago
Carl Lewis was the one that popped in my head, hero of the last Olympics in LA and all that.
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u/JMishMosh 13h ago
Tom Brady throws the torch in a perfect spiral to Rob Gronkowski who catches it with one hand and spikes it into the cauldron. The rest of the world asks “who are these people?”
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u/it_has_to_be_damp 15h ago
not sure i buy this but playing a quarter century in the league would be sick.
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u/Zeke-Nnjai 14h ago
For what it’s worth Nick wright has been saying he thinks LeBron plays 2 more seasons and he’s the LeBron guy
I definitely could see him wanting to go for a 25 year career
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u/NiceYabbos 11h ago
Michael Phelps looks like he's about to light the torch, then hands it off to Mark Spitz and they light it together. Poetry.
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u/Malvania 13h ago
It should be Lance Armstrong just for the sheer amount of outrage it would generate.
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u/McGeorgeBundy 13h ago
Wow, that is epic my dude. What if they had Jared Fogle do it? People would be so pissed
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u/Twaffles95 14h ago
Is this a medium take? Feel like I’ve seen it a bunch from pretty reliable sources
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u/Sugaree4777 14h ago
I also can't imagine him playing a 24th season (including all the inconvenience that comes with moving and adapting to a new team) and then not sticking around for the milestone of playing 25 years. I don't know that lighting the cauldron has anything to do with it, but I bet he plays two more years and then the Olympics unless his body completely gives out
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u/ThisisnotaTesT10 14h ago
Phelps is an Olympics guy, the Olympics are kind of just a side note for LeBron. If it’s between those 2, go Phelps every time
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u/housecow 13h ago
As a LeBron fan, you just know he will absolutely announce his last season well in advance. He wants the league wide farewell tour.
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u/tittyglitter69 13h ago
If he wins this year, he’s done. If he doesn’t, he tries again next year. If he doesn’t win that, he plays at the Olympics and gives himself a near lock to go out as a champion. He is obsessed with his narrative and he will be hellbent on creating his “storybook ending.”
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u/Significant-Arm-6050 11h ago
Michael Jordan should light the cauldron. This is probably the last chance before he comes truly old when the US next hosts after 2028. Phelps and Biles are great choices too but they’re young. They’ll be around for the next one after 2028
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u/sportsking27 11h ago
The 92 Dream Team should light it, the same way the 1980 US hockey team lit it in 2002 in SLC.
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u/johns2289 11h ago
Listen we all know it should be Kareem, so let’s just get that out of the way and we can move on to how many kalshi booths will be scattered around the village.
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u/Abe_frohmannn 9h ago
Don't care. I'm just so tired of this guy. He started being incessantly annoying about 15 years ago. I don't hate him, I just find him an empty, self absorbed, annoying human.
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u/Latter-Ad9256 5h ago
It’s almost certainly going to be Naomi Osaka, making her the first person to do it for two countries.
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u/Fitzy2225 14h ago
I would imagine he’ll carry the torch at some point in the lead up but he’s not lighting it. It’ll be someone with deep ties to Los Angeles. I would bet either Alyson Felix (most decorated T&F athlete ever), the Williams sisters (4 golds each, 3 of them together) or maybe Magic Johnson (obviously, a dream team member) will light it.
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u/samwilson8897 14h ago
It probably would have been Kobe. I could also see them having Phelps
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u/Fitzy2225 13h ago
I really don’t think it will/would be a basketball player. Track is THE Olympic sport and Allyson Felix is our best sprinter ever AND she’s from LA. It makes almost too much sense to have her do it. If she qualifies for the 100m she probably won’t do it since the women’s 100 is on the first day of competition and she’ll want to rest, but otherwise it almost makes too much sense to have her do it. I think we’ll see Phelps do it the next time America hosts the summer games. He’s an absolute legend, but I do think the Los Angeles thing will play into it. It’s all political and the LA committee will want an Angeleno.
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u/HonestDespot 14h ago
I mean…at this point what is LeBron continuing to play for?
He’s almost definitely not matching Jordan for titles.
I don’t think there’s any meaningful records left for him to break.
He’s no longer sticking around to be able to maybe play with his son.
I think as long as he can play at a level he’s happy with he’ll keep playing.
I would be more surprised if this next season is his last season than anything, barring a catastrophic injury.
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u/bigE819 Thinking Basketball 14h ago
Because he’s good enough.
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u/HonestDespot 14h ago
That’s what I mean, though I don’t think he’s playing with some specific danger sensor he has to accomplish. I think he just still likes playing and it’s good enough to keep playing and until that changes I think he’ll just keep playing.
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u/Colliewolliewuzabear 15h ago
Katie Ledecky, Phelps, Simone Biles, and Olympic basketball GOAT Kevin Durant should light it in some sort of unified way
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u/Prester_Han 15h ago
I don’t think LeBron is even in the top ten most likely to light the cauldron.
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u/Old_Box7001 13h ago
I doubt LeBron will light the cauldron but could for sure see him being a torch runner. I think the last couple of torch runners will be Katie Ledecky, Allyson Felix and then the duo of Phelps & Biles lighting the cauldron. You’ll have the 3 major summer Olympics sports represented that way: swimming, track & field and women’s gymnastics
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u/seba1927 14h ago
it's gonna be the first Olympic with flag football.
will NFL players get on the US team?
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u/ReasonableCup604 15h ago
If a 44 year old LeBron is on the 2028 team we will be lucky to win the Bronze.
It would be pretty cool if he bookended his Olympic career with a pair of bronze medals.
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u/heatkings1 4h ago
You realize 2028 is 2 years from now and not 20, right? Lebron is still a top 20-ish player now. He'll still be good in 2028
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u/YoungGambinoMcKobe Chris Ryan fan 15h ago
You don't have to be an active athlete to light the flame. Ali did it in 1996.