Former NBA champion and analyst Kendrick Perkins has made a positive claim about NBA legend LeBron James amid his stall in making a decision on which team to join for the 2026-27 season. Perkins has talked about a Houston Rockets related instance that gave James an "extra life."

2008 NBA champion Perkins appeared on ESPN's First Take show, where he discussed how many more seasons LeBron James could play in his already accolade-filled career. Perkins later argued that James can be counted as one of the best players in the league as well.

"Going into this season, he is still a top 10 player in the NBA," Perkins said on July 22. "It is not 10 players that we can sit up here and name that we're taking above LeBron James."

Perkins further argued on First Take, that James' performance against the Houston Rockets in the Western Conference First Round gave him an extra life, making him one of the top 10 players.

With the absence of star players like Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves, James took matters into his own hands. James averaged 23.2 points, 8.3 assists, 7.2 rebounds, 1.3 steals, and 0.3 blocks per game in six games, with the Los Angeles Lakers winning the series 4-2.

Perkins also argued that the 22-time All-Star could play in the NBA as a 45-year-old as well. James will turn 42 on December 30. But amidst Perkins' comments, there has been new talk in town related to James' next team decision.

LeBron James got irritated by NBA commissioner Adam Silver following his remarks on James

There has been a new story stirring in the background while Perkins commented on James. Earlier, on July 16, Adam Silver gave an interview to CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin at the CNBC Sport x Boardroom Game Plan Summit in New York, where he urged James to make a decision soon.

"The way I think about it is, we have to finish up the schedule," Silver said. "And where LeBron plays will affect the schedule. So I would like him to make his announcement already, so we can finish the schedule, because, as you might imagine, the teams are calling us, the networks are calling us, and everybody wants to lock in the schedule."

But a new story has evolved from this statement, with reporter Andy Baskin, who appeared on 92.3 The Fan, saying that James was allegedly "irritated" by Silver's statement and decided to delay his announcement.

"Here's what I was told yesterday by a reliable source. Last week, LeBron's crew was probably ready to make an announcement," Baskin said on July 21. "'Irritated' was the word I was told, by the commissioner pushing them… so they decided to hold back."

While James still hasn't announced which team he will play for in the 2026-27 season, Perkins has praised him for his longevity, and Baskin has thrown a pinch of salt in the mix.

What are your thoughts on this?

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Written by

Dhruv Singh

Edited by

Kaamna Dwivedi