LeBron embarks on historic NBA All-Star Game weekend | News, Sports, Jobs

Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James catches his break during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Los Angeles Clippers, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — For two solid decades, LeBron James was a main attraction at every NBA All-Star weekend.

He was a 20-year-old starter in his All-Star debut back in 2005, and he became the youngest MVP of the game one year later. Never begging off due to injury or exhaustion while his less-accomplished teammates luxuriated in their breaks from the regular-season grind, James dutifully appeared in every midseason showcase until 2025, when his 40-year-old body simply wouldn’t allow him to play.

As it turns out, that weekend in San Francisco wasn’t the end of an era after all.

Now 41, James will be back this weekend for the All-Star Game at Intuit Dome south of central Los Angeles, spending another Sunday in February under the spotlight while extending his records for the most All-Star selections (22) and All-Star appearances (21) in NBA history.

James, the leading scorer in NBA history and in the All-Star Game’s history, clearly doesn’t consider the All-Star Game to be an onerous obligation, even when he’s had to fly all around the country to make his appearances. Yet the Los Angeles Lakers star is also thrilled he’ll be spending this All-Star weekend in his own home, where he can concentrate his spare hours on making the most of the time he has left, both in this season and in his matchless career.

“Trying to figure out how to get some rest,” James said Thursday night when asked about his plans for the weekend. “Obviously, Sunday will be Sunday. Super grateful for that, to be a part of All-Star weekend and to be a part of the big game. And then (I’ll) try to find some rest.”

James went into the break with a performance that exemplified why his latest All-Star selection wasn’t obeisance to a basketball legend — even one who has missed 18 games due to injury already this season, disqualifying him from consideration for a 22nd straight All-NBA selection.

During the Lakers’ 124-104 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night, James became the oldest player to get a triple-double. He had 28 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds for the 123rd triple-double of his career and one of his best performances of the season with the Lakers (33-21).

“He’s fighting Father Time as good as anybody ever has,” Lakers teammate Austin Reaves said. “Just the pace he’s playing with still, the athleticism, obviously the IQ. Yeah, he is still one of the best players in the NBA. (He’s an) All-Star for a reason.”

Lakers coach JJ Redick put it even more succinctly: “He’s got a 23-year prime, basically.”

And as James reiterated after his triple-double, he still firmly believes he could maintain something close to this level of play indefinitely.

His defiance of time and aging has reached unprecedented levels as the only NBA player to suit up for a 23rd season, and he is excelling at a level never reached by a player in his 40s. James has repeatedly said he doesn’t know how much longer he’ll play — but he doesn’t even qualify it by saying he wants to leave before his skills erode, because he doesn’t think they will.

“Could I? Yeah, I could. But I don’t know,” James said when asked if he could continue to play at a high level for years to come.

Paul retires

Chris Paul, the “Point God” who was a 12-time All-Star selection and two-time Olympic gold medalist, announced his retirement on Friday in the capper of a 21-season career that will surely merit induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Paul made the announcement on the first day of the NBA’s All-Star weekend at the home of the Los Angeles Clippers in Inglewood, California. Paul spent his final season — an abbreviated one — with the Clippers, who sent him home in December and wound up trading him to Toronto earlier this month.

The Raptors knew Paul would never play in Toronto, and that begged the question about whether the Wake Forest legend would try to finish the season with another team in pursuit of the thing he never got — an NBA title.

The answer came Friday. He’s done. He said last summer that he has hated missing events with his children over the last few years, and now he can devote himself much more to his family and other interests.

“It’s time for me to show up for others and in other ways,” Paul wrote on a social media post Friday.

He strongly hinted earlier this season that this year was going to be his last. Paul was a four-time All-NBA first team selection, and he ranks second in NBA history with 12,552 assists and 2,728 steals. He was the first player to score at least 20,000 points while recording at least 10,000 assists; LeBron James and Russell Westbrook have both since done that as well.

“It feels really good knowing that I played and treated this game with the utmost respect since the day my dad introduced me to it,” Paul wrote. “It was the very first relationship I ever knew.”

Paul played for New Orleans, Houston, Oklahoma City, Phoenix, Golden State, San Antonio and the Clippers during his career, spending the last four years with four different teams.

He also was a past president of the National Basketball Players Association — instrumental in getting the league through the bubble season when the pandemic struck in 2020 — and championed the NBA establishing better ties with Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

“From the moment he entered the league, Chris distinguished himself with his savvy playmaking skills, elite competitiveness and intense work ethic,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement, in which he called Paul “one of the greatest point guards in NBA history.”

Paul is 15th all-time in regular-season games played and 36th in points, was a six-time steals champion, five-time assists champion, a nine-time All-Defensive team pick, 11-time All-NBA selection and was part of the NBA’s 75th anniversary team.

He’s one of six players in NBA history to have reached $400 million in career earnings.

“I’ve been playing basketball since I was 4 years old, and there’s nothing other than my family that brings me more joy than the hard work and all that stuff that goes into it,” he said in 2024. “Yeah, that’s why we get to play a child’s game and say it’s my way of life.”

Paul became arguably the most accomplished player in Clippers franchise history while leading the team to six winning seasons from 2011-17, including the Clippers’ first two Pacific Division titles and three playoff series victories. Paul returned to Los Angeles as a free agent last July, rejoining a franchise where he is loved by fans — but it went bad quickly, and Paul’s last game with the Clippers was Dec. 1.

It turned out to be his last NBA game, period.

“While this chapter of being an ‘NBA player’ is done, the game of basketball will forever be engrained in the DNA of my life, spanning three decades,” Paul wrote. “It’s crazy even saying that!! Playing basketball for a living has been an unbelievable blessing that also came with lost of responsibility. I embraced it all.”

Paul is one of seven players to have an NBA career span at least 21 seasons. And he’s already in the Hall of Fame: the 2008 Olympic ‘Redeem Team’ was enshrined as part of the 2025 class. It won’t be long before he goes in on his own as well.