Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James is 39 years old and not getting any younger. The league’s oldest player faced off against his former team in the Cleveland Cavaliers at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on Wednesday night, and he said that he doesn’t take his opportunities to play in Cleveland for granted in the twilight of his NBA career.
“Every time I come here, it’s like, ‘OK, how many more times will it be for me in this building?’” James told cleveland.com. “It could only be a couple more times. Maybe it’s only one more time now. I don’t know the answer. But I know I’m on the other side of the fence than that previous fence. I know I don’t have many more times coming here and playing the game that I love, so I don’t take it for granted.”
He wasn’t able to lead the Lakers to a win in his return to Cleveland though. Los Angeles lost by a final score of 134-110, and James finished the contest with 26 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the field and 1-of-3 from 3-point range along with six rebounds and three assists.
After the Lakers started out the season with a 3-0 record, the team has since lost each of its last two contests. Los Angeles picked up its first loss of the campaign against the Phoenix Suns on Monday before falling to Cleveland.
James has played for three NBA teams during his career, but he might be best known for his two stints playing for the Cavaliers. He has logged more regular-season games with Cleveland than any other squad, as he has 849 games with the Cavaliers under his belt compared to 354 with the Lakers and 294 with the Miami Heat.
In his first stint with the Cavaliers — who selected him with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft — he was huge in helping Cleveland become a relevant team again. With a youthful James leading the way, the Cavaliers reached the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history in 2007. He also helped Cleveland rack up consecutive 60-plus win seasons in the 2008-09 and 2009-10 campaigns.
James came close to winning a championship in his first stint in Cleveland, but it wasn’t until his second stint that the Cavaliers won their first title in team history. Cleveland won the NBA title in 2016 after the team rallied back from a daunting 3-1 series deficit against the Golden State Warriors in the championship series.
