In the early 2000s, a skinny teenager from Akron, Ohio, was expected to be the next big thing in the NBA. With a skillset that scouts said combined shades of legends like Kobe Bryant, John Stockton and Michael Jordan, there was no way for him to hide from the spotlight.

This player was LeBron James. 

LeBron ended up being the first overall pick straight out of high school in the 2003 NBA Draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers in what became the one of the best classes of players ever. Players like Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade were also selected in the top five and are already in the Hall of Fame as of last year.

Fast-forward to the current day, and LeBron is still playing. He is now 41 years old and the NBA’s all-time points leader with more than 43,000. He has accumulated four championships, four MVP awards, 10 NBA Finals appearances and 22 All-Star appearances, including this season.

Every year after his rookie season, he has made the All-Star Game. I am 21 years old now, and there has not been an NBA season in my lifetime in which LeBron was not an All-Star. Last year, at age 40, he finished sixth in MVP voting and currently averages 21.4 points, seven assists and 5.6 rebounds per game. 

He is also currently playing on the same team as his son.

As someone who grew up as a diehard Chicago Bulls fan and now has a Bulls podcast, James has crushed my soul numerous times. He joined the Miami Heat in 2010 instead of the Bulls and hit clutch shots to send them home in the playoffs. 

However, as weird as this is to say, we have to start thinking about the NBA without LeBron. For fans around my age, this is hard to fathom. 

But even LeBron cannot beat Father Time. LeBron was ruled out against the New York Knicks recently due to an elbow contusion and, get this, left foot arthritis.

I have never heard of an athlete not being able to play because of arthritis. It made me start to think about this season potentially being LeBron’s last. If this is it for him, all I can do is be grateful that I watched him play.

And to those who dislike him for whatever reason — which I find ludicrous because of what he’s done for the game on the court and off the court with community restoration across the country — you should be appreciative as well.

LeBron is the only reasonable candidate from the past 20 years to be involved in the greatest of all-time debate, and without that, basketball loses one of its most long-lasting arguments. The comparisons, the discussions, the legacy conversations only exist because of James’s two decades of sustained greatness.

So, when LeBron’s career comes to an end — which could be this season — so will one of the most important chapters of basketball history that many of us were lucky enough to watch.