Mike James admitted it's possible he will retire after his contract with Monaco expires, revealed his favorite EuroLeague player and argued why Kostas Sloukas should be in the EuroLeague GOAT conversation.
Mike James was on the 'Triple Threat Show' podcast, hosted by his ex-teammate at Monaco, Chima Moneke, and journalists Dionysis Aravantinos and Giorgos Efkarpidis.
James covered many topics, including the possibility of being naturalized.
"Yeah, I've been approached by probably seven countries if I think about it," James revealed. "When I was younger, I didn't want to give up my summer. Now that I'm older, it just has to make sense for me to do it."
"It has to be somewhere that we have action, like going to a big tournament. Obviously, I don't want to play all the [FIBA] windows, and it's hard to go to somebody else's country and make rules and stipulations. I'm being added to something that's very important to a lot of people. So, it's a difficult situation to join something like that," he added.
During the summer, the 34-year-old guard signed a 3-year extension with Monaco, securing his stay with the club until 2027.
James admitted that it might be his last contract.
"It's a possibility, to be honest," James said when he was asked about retirement. "I think it was already getting closer to me, and then with the surgery I had this summer and still trying to get back to my normal self, I'm probably still like 80% of myself at this point. It's a rough feeling. So, I just want to call it quits."
Nevertheless, no matter what decision James will make regarding retirement, it seems that he's pretty calm about what people will say about him as a player.
"I feel like people talk about legacies too much. Me and Kev [Durant] are having a talk about that stuff all the time because people say a lot of stuff about his legacy and mine. So, you're telling me that in 20 years, we're going to look back at Kev and say, 'Oh, he wasn't one of the best to ever do it because he didn't win a championship without Steph [Curry].' That's what you're telling me?
There's no way you're going to say that. There's no way in 20 years you're going to look back at me and be like, 'If he never won a EuroLeague championship or never made another All-EuroLeague Team, he wasn't that good because he didn't win a championship.'
Who I am is going to be who I am, no matter what. Other people's opinions are good for barbershop talk. It's good over Twitter and over the internet, but I'm not tripping off of that. It's not important to me," James noted.
However, James discussed what it would take to be considered the EuroLeague GOAT.
"I need to be the man, but I'd rather be on a team where it's like if I play good, we win and if I play bad, we lose," James noted. "Say if I went to Madrid and play bad or play 12 minutes, Facu [Campazzo], Mario [Hezonja] and [Walter] Tavares play good, do I still get points for that? Is it still a good thing? Will people look at me, like 'Oh yeah, he's a winner!'?"
"One of my favorite players ever is Sergio Llull," James admitted. "I love him so much. Until his MVP season [in 2016-17], I felt like he was one of the best players I had ever played against. Just his pace, his big shot-making ability, and how much pressure he put on the defense."
"But since he got hurt, he never really came back to his full self. I've seen flashes of him and games that look like him. He won championships and made big shots. But is he the same player as he was before? Does he still get the same type of kudos? Before, he was a perennial All-EuroLeague player.
He hit a big shot in the [2023] championship game, which was amazing. I knew he was going to make it. But he had zero points before that," James continued.
With all that being said, can Kostas Sloukas be considered the GOAT?
"He's got to be in the convo," James admitted. "I mean, Sloukas isn't my favorite player. But he's got a lot of things people should say, 'Alright, he could be in the conversation.'"
"I'm not saying he's in the Top 5, but he should be brought up. He's got titles, All-EuroLeagues, he got game-winners, he plays good in big games -- and he's got a Final Four MVP now," James noted.
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