Given James’ age, he presumably would much rather spend time with family and recovering during this week off.

Now in his 23rd season, every day matters to preserve himself for a grueling regular season and now he needs to make sure he is ready for a potential postseason run. A fellow competitor in Denver Nuggets three-time MVP Nikola Jokic was asked about James and his longevity during All-Star Weekend and had nothing but praise for the Lakers star.

“I mean, just you can see how many players cannot stay healthy and cannot be in the league for such a long time. I think being in this league for so long and I’m going to say producing the numbers, he’s still one of the best players in the league, even in this stage of his career,” Jokic said of James.

“He’s still making a change on the floor when he gets in and making advantage. I think it’s impressive to see that someone is doing that for 22 years. We have some players who are, like, 19, 20 and still they’re in the league. It’s impressive. Definitely we all should admire that, how good. I think maybe we don’t see that right now, but after when he stops playing, I think we’re going to admire it even more.”

There will never be another player of James’ caliber as he has set an extremely high standard for what it means to be an all-time great. As the next generation of stars begin to cement themselves, like Jokic, they have a living example of what it takes to be a legend.

No answer has been provided to when the Lakers star will call it a career, but he has been the closest player in all of sports to defeating Father Time. One could argue he has, and the Nuggets star appears to share that sentiment.

LeBron James reveals how much longer he thinks he can play

As the regular season winds down, anticipation is mounting on whether LeBron James will return for a 24th season in L.A. or elsewhere. With questions piling, James revealed how much longer he thinks he can play, as it pertains to keeping his body in top shape.

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Someone who has emerged into that this year for the Nuggets is Peyton Watson, whom they drafted in 2022 out of UCLA. With the Nuggets dealing with injuries to superstar Nikola Jokic, not to mention other important players like Aaron Gordon and Christian Braun, Watson has stepped up big time to keep them afloat.

But Watson is set to hit free agency for the first time this summer as the fourth-year wing will be a restricted free agent. And according to NBA insider Jake Fischer, the Lakers are expected to have interest in signing him:

It must be said, though, that rival executives are increasingly curious about Denver’s likely struggles to retain Peyton Watson this summer given the fourth-year swingman’s recent breakout play amid all of the Nuggets’ health woes. We’ll certainly be tracking this situation over the coming months, since Watson’s restricted free agency is already shaping up to become a major domino of the offseason.

Sources say teams that are projected to have cap space — notably such as the Lakers — are already preparing interest.

The Lakers having interest makes sense as the team is in the market for two-way wings who can really defend and shoot. Watson has been an excellent defender since he joined the league, but it is his offensive game that has grown as he is averaging more than 14 points per game this season while knocking down 41.1% of his 3-pointers on increased volume.

Watson being a restricted free agent makes things more difficult as the Nuggets would be able to match any offer sheet he signs. But with the Nuggets already already having so much money committed to core players in Jokic, Gordon and Jamal Murray, they may struggle to retain Watson if the Lakers give him a big enough offer sheet.

A Southern California native who attended Long Beach Poly High School and played at UCLA, Watson would be an ideal addition for this Lakers team if they are able to pry him away from the rival Nuggets.

Lakers willing to move Dalton Knecht at trade deadline

The Lakers are also looking to improve their roster ahead of the upcoming NBA trade deadline and the team is reportedly willing to move second-year guard Dalton Knecht in a deal to do so.

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Jokic is objectively considered by most to be the best player in the game today as a three-time MVP as well as an NBA Finals MVP when he led the Nuggets to a championship in 2023. And despite the Lakers and Nuggets growing a bit of a rivalry over the past few years, the respect between James and Jokic is extremely high.

This was seen as LeBron made sure to go over to Jokic on the Nuggets bench during the game and dap him up. And when asked about it, James simply said he wanted to pay respect to one of the greatest players to ever play the game, as seen on Spectrum SportsNet:

“It’s the utmost respect. For the greats of the game, for the greats of today, for me for the greats of the past, for the greats that come after. Jokic is one of the greatest players to ever play this game. For me to see him and go over and just pay my respect, that’s easy.”

James and Jokic have faced off numerous times over the past few years as the Lakers and Nuggets met in the postseason regularly. But in LeBron’s eyes, none of those games compares to the epic meeting in the 2024 Olympic semifinals between Team USA and Serbia, which he called one of the best games he’s ever been a part of:

“It’s one of the greatest games I’ve ever played in. It’s one of the greatest games I’ve ever played in. I’ve played in a lot of great games, NBA Finals games, Olympic games, high school games, regular season games. That ranks right up there with one of the greatest games I’ve ever played in and I’ll never forget that moment.”

That contest saw James and Stephen Curry lead a massive fourth quarter comeback to lift Team USA to victory over Jokic’s Serbian squad on their way to a gold medal. Quite simply, when two all-time great players have shared the court for multiple hard-fought battles, the respect between them will always be great.

LeBron James shouts out Lakers’ teammate Luka Doncic

James’ streak of 21 consecutive seasons being named a starter for the NBA All-Star Game came to an end this year. However, his Lakers teammate Luka Doncic was the leading vote getter for this year’s contest and LeBron made sure to shout him out for this accomplishment.

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The Lakers and Nuggets have rebuilt their rivalry the past few years with multiple playoff battles, so there was plenty of motivation for both teams when they clashed in primetime. Los Angeles caught a break as Denver was without Nikola Jokic who has been rehabbing a knee injury, though the rest of their team has picked up the slack in his absence.

Even without Jokic, the Nuggets have had no problems scoring and that was the case against the Lakers as they couldn’t miss from anywhere on the floor. Los Angeles has been a porous defensive group throughout the 2025-26 season, but even they couldn’t have hoped to slow down Denver who got whatever they wanted despite the coverage.

The Lakers went into halftime trailing, but the script completely flipped in the second half as they suddenly were able to sustain extended stretches of defensive excellence. Thanks to a couple of large runs, Los Angeles was able to pull off the comeback against Denver and win 105-107. They allowed just 36 points in the second half after 71 in the first half.

Luka Doncic remains one of the best offensive engines in the league midway through the 2025-26 season and his talents were on full display against Denver. Doncic is historically one of the best first-quarter scorers ever and he made sure L.A. never got to far behind as he went toe-to-toe with Denver.

Doncic had full control of the Lakers’ offensive flow, moving the basketball around while staying aggressive. While Luka was forced to give up the basketball more in the second half, he made up for it with his effort as a playmaker and rebounder.

Doncic finished the night with a triple-double of 38 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists to go along with two steals.

With the Nuggets sending more help Doncic’s way, Marcus Smart stepped up in the fourth quarter to make them pay. Smart hit several clutch 3-pointers in the fourth quarter while giving his full effort defensively.

Smart was the catalyst for the Lakers’ comeback, finishing the evening with 15 points, two rebounds and one assist.

LeBron James got off to a slow start, but also found his way late in the second half. With Doncic on the bench to begin the fourth, James kept Los Angeles within striking distance both as a scorer and playmaker.

James ended the night with a near-triple-double of 19 points, nine rebounds and eight assists.

What’s next for the Lakers

The Lakers continue their road trip on Thursday, albeit it back near home, against the L.A. Clippers before playing the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday.

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The Lakers and Nuggets have developed a bit of a rivalry in recent years, but this was their first meeting this season and it lacked star power with Nikola Jokic, Austin Reaves and others out of the lineup. Ultimately, the Lakers came out on top with an impressive comeback victory, winning 115-107 to improve to 26-16 on the season.

Denver has been playing pretty well without Jokic and they came out firing in this one, making their first five shots, including four from deep, to jump out to a 14-6 lead.

Luka Doncic helped settle the Lakers in with 16 quick points on 6-of-6 shooting, although the Nuggets stayed hot by making nine of their first 11 3-point attempts. That included four straight from Spencer Jones as Denver led 37-28 at the end of the first quarter. LeBron James hit a shot at the buzzer to keep it within single digits.

Drew Timme has been getting a look in the Lakers rotation this week and came in and scored seven quick points to begin the second. James then took matters into his own hands, getting fouled on a 3-point attempt and then throwing down a monster dunk.

The Lakers were trying to chip away at their deficit as Doncic continued his scoring barrage when he re-entered the game. The Nuggets closed the half strong, however, taking a 71-57 lead into the halftime locker room after an 8-0 run in the final minute. This time it was Jamal Murray beating the buzzer for his team, hitting a shot from beyond half-court.

Lakers center Deandre Ayton did not come out for the start of the third quarter as he got hit in the face towards the end of the first half and was eventually ruled out with a left eye injury.

L.A. was playing with its best energy in the third quarter though with James and Doncic leading the way offensively. After going down by 16, they ripped off a 13-0 run and went into the fourth quarter with a slim 88-86 deficit.

Timme scored to begin the final quarter as the Lakers came all the way back to tie it. A few minutes later, Doncic hit a pair of free throws to give L.A. its first led of the game.

From there, the Lakers took control as Marcus Smart was making plays on both sides of the ball.

After a triple by Smart put them up double digits, the Nuggets tried to make one last run. James quickly put an end to that with a thunderous dunk though and L.A. went on to close out the win.

What’s next for the Lakers…

While the Lakers’ road trip technically continues, they will actually return home as they have a matchup with the L.A. Clippers at Intuit Dome in Inglewood on Thursday night.

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