LeBron James may be 21 years into arguably the greatest NBA career any player has ever had, but all good things come to an end eventually. Whether it’s in one year or several, James will eventually play his final NBA game, and as he claimed at All-Star Weekend, he’s not exactly sure how he wants that to play out.
“I don’t know how many seasons I have left. I know it’s not that many. I was asked this question a couple days ago, ‘Will you take the farewell tour or just ‘Tim Duncan’ it?’ I’m 50-50,” James said. Duncan, famously, did not publicly reveal his retirement plans during the 2015-16 season. His San Antonio Spurs were eliminated from the playoffs by the Oklahoma City Thunder and he quietly retired afterward.
During that same season, Kobe Bryant went on one of the most extravagant retirement tours the NBA has ever seen. Teams gave him gifts as he arrived in arenas for the final time, and the whole affair culminated with a 60-point finale in his last game against the Utah Jazz.
Bryant wasn’t the first player to do a retirement tour. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had a famous one of his own at the end of his legendary career, and New York Yankees legends Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera both had extravagant…
