Back in January, the man who has represented the world’s most scrutinised basketball career for over two decades said he genuinely didn’t know if this was the final season, and privately hoped it wasn’t. Now, with the playoffs in full swing and his client putting up 28 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists at 41 years old, Rich Paul has changed his tune and raised the ceiling entirely.

Speaking on the Game Over podcast alongside co-host Max Kellerman, Paul made clear that the retirement conversation around LeBron James is being had far too eagerly by people who haven’t earned the right to have it. “LeBron can play five more years. He can play at least 28 years in the NBA,” Paul said. He did offer a personal preference, but not without first looking over his shoulder. “Now I personally think, and don’t get me, Savannah, that I think he should play 25 years because he definitely got at least two more years in them.” That would take LeBron’s career to the 2027-28 season at the earliest under Paul’s own conservative read.

Paul’s broader point wasn’t just about the numbers. It was a rebuke of the instinct to push exceptional talent toward the exit before it walks there itself. “I’m not so sure that the people, fans, we should be sitting here trying to push him out the league,” he said. “You got to be very, very careful with that because when we get these opportunities, I don’t see anybody pushing Bruce Springsteen off the stage. I don’t want to do it selfishly. I don’t want to do it.”

The Springsteen comparison isn’t arbitrary. LeBron averaged 20.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 7.2 assists across the 2025-26 regular season and is currently leading the Lakers in assists through the playoffs, without Luka Doncic or Austin Reaves. As recently as January, Paul admitted he hadn’t even discussed retirement with the four-time NBA champion directly, saying only, “I hope it is not his last year.” The shift in tone from hoping he stays to projecting five more years reflects what the on-court evidence keeps demanding.

The context surrounding Paul’s comments matters too. In Game 2 against Houston, LeBron led all scorers with 28 points, adding eight rebounds and seven assists in 39 minutes, punctuated by a two-handed soaring dunk with under a minute left that put the game away. Lakers coach JJ Redick had a simple summary: “He’s just really comfortable playing that way throughout his career.” A 41-year-old dunking over defenders in the fourth quarter of a playoff game tends to complicate the farewell narrative. Paul clearly thinks it should complicate it for at least a few more years.

“He Should Be Himself”: Rich Paul On The Role That Keeps LeBron At His Best

Paul’s retirement projection wasn’t the only point worth noting from the Game Over episode. Following the Lakers’ Game 2 win, he also offered a clear prescription for how Los Angeles should be deploying LeBron James, and it starts with simply getting out of his way. “Who I think LeBron should be on this Lakers team is LeBron. … He’s at his best when he’s the maestro.” The word choice is deliberate. A maestro doesn’t follow a script; he orchestrates. And across Games 1 and 2 against Houston, with the team’s two leading scorers sidelined, that’s exactly what LeBron has done.

Rich Paul also pushed back on the creeping tendency to reframe LeBron’s role through the lens of age rather than ability. “I think sometimes you can lean on someone’s age, looking for a reason for you to lessen their capabilities. But if their capabilities are still there, then you have to disregard the age.” It’s a position the box score keeps backing up. In Game 2 alone, LeBron got to the free-throw line 14 times and scored nine points in the final quarter, not the numbers of a player being managed around his limitations, but of one being unleashed through them.

Taken together, Paul’s remarks form a coherent argument: LeBron James can still play, should play freely, and those calling for curtain calls are doing so ahead of schedule. If the playoffs continue as they have in Games 1 and 2, Savannah James may have more reasons to support Paul’s preference for 25 years over five, while the rest of the league may have more reasons to fear it.