Former teammate begs LeBron James to retire

• LeBron James is considering retirement.
• Kendrick Perkins believes he should walk away.
• Playing could only hurt his GOAT status, says Perkins

Kendrick Perkins Wants LeBron James To Retire

Not many professional athletes — and definitely not many NBA players — have been able to stay in the league for two decades. And of those who did, no one could post the same numbers LeBron James posted last season.

Besides becoming the all-time leading scorer, James was one of the main reasons why the Los Angeles Lakers made the playoffs. His durability is second to none, and it seems like he could still play at an elite level for two or three more years.

Nonetheless, Kendrick Perkins doesn’t believe that should be the case. Recently, Charles Barkley claimed that LeBron should retire now, and the former NBA champion actually agreed.

LeBron Needs To Protect His GOAT Case, Says Perkins

Perkins claimed that as much as he would love to see LeBron keep playing, he thinks that he could only do a disservice to his GOAT argument, as he people will continue to question his greatness:

Kendrick Perkins playing for the Boston Celtics

“At the end of the day, I hate to say it, but I believe this in my soul right now. I wish LeBron James would retire,” Perkins said on First Take. “Not because I don’t want to see more of LeBron James, not because I don’t appreciate LeBron James. But I honestly believe deep down inside, the more LeBron James continues to play the game of basketball, the more it’s going to hurt his legacy and the more it’s going to continue to hurt his GOAT argument.”

Perkins Doesn’t Want LeBron To Take The Blame

Perkins added that having James would always give a team championship aspirations, meaning that he’s also going to take the blame if things don’t go their way:

“Long as he steps foot on that floor, every single season, there’s gonna expectations of him winning a championship,” Perkins said. “And when he don’t do that, we’re gonna be looking at him saying: ‘Well what happened now?’ So now you’re looking at the Lakers, they’re most likely going to re-sign LeBron James this upcoming season. If they don’t make it to the Finals or the Western Conference Finals, who’s going to be to blame then? I got a problem, man. And I’m telling you, I’m torn between the two.”

see also

LeBron James challenged Darvin Ham and forced him to change his plan

At the end of the day, people have already made up their minds about LeBron, and it’s hard to think of him convincing his haters that he’s the GOAT and vice versa. Also, it’s not like he has anything left to prove, so it’ll be interesting to see what’s going on in his mind right now.