After Team USA’s gold medal win in Paris, LeBron James closed the chapter on international basketball for good. “I can’t see myself playing in Los Angeles 2028,” he said in the moment. Two years later, the door apparently never actually shut.

Brian Windhorst reported that USA Basketball is prepared to make an exception for James regardless of the usual roster process.

“If LeBron wants to play, he’ll get a roster spot,” Windhorst said on The Hoop Collective.

At 39, he was the oldest player on the roster and still walked away with tournament MVP honors. He averaged 14.2 points, 8.5 assists and 6.8 rebounds while leading Team USA to their fifth straight gold medal.

His fourth-quarter takeover in the semifinal against Serbia and a double-double in the gold medal win over France were widely credited as difference-makers in a tournament that was tougher than expected for perennial winners, Team USA.

LeBron James will turn 43 by the time the 2028 Games arrive in Los Angeles, and he’s downplayed the idea more than once since Paris, telling reporters as recently as last year that “nothing has changed” about his chances of playing in a city he called home for eight years.

Still, Windhorst’s comments suggest USA Basketball isn’t taking LeBron’s stance as the final word. It is instead leaving a spot open on the off chance the sport’s most decorated active player changes his mind on home soil.

James’s Olympic future is unfolding after he switched Los Angeles for Philadelphia. The four-time MVP signed a two-year, $8 million deal with the Philadelphia 76ers this offseason, joining Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Jaylen Brown in pursuit of a championship.

“This is my last decision,” LeBron said after choosing the Philadelphia 76ers. “I’m not going for money. … What am I really playing for at this point? … I still want to compete, to win and to have a chance at the feeling of winning another championship. I believe I can help make the Philadelphia 76ers a championship team and I am so excited to energize a new fan base and start this incredible journey one last time.”

If James is still playing at a high level deep into his 40s in Philadelphia, USA Basketball’s willingness to hold a spot open becomes less of a formality and more of a real possibility. One that would let James close out both his NBA and international careers on his own terms.