On Sunday, Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James confirmed that he will be back on the court next season when he picked up his player option for more than $52 million. More than likely, James will be back in the purple and gold next to Luka Doncic as the two chains a championship in their first full season together.

James is the oldest star in the NBA right now and will be turning 41 years old this December. Naturally, that leads to plenty of discussion as to when he will hang up his shoes and retire, and that speculation becomes especially strong every time that he is eliminated from the playoffs.

There are surely many factors that go into the decision for the Akron, OH native. The level that he is still playing at is certainly one of them, as well as his drive to keep racking up the achievements. However, arguably none of them are bigger than his family, which may be having a massive influence on how he plays out the end of his career.

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Recently, James was even overheard saying that his wife, Savannah, wants him to retire sooner than many fans may think, via ESPN's Shams Charania.

“It remains to be seen whether James will reach season No. 24 or beyond,” Charania wrote. “James went out to dinner in New York this past week with his wife, Savannah, Miami Heat big man Kevin Love and his wife, Kate, and other confidants, and one of the dinner guests posted a snippet of the night to Instagram where James can be heard saying, ‘[Savannah] wants me to f—ing retire in the next year or so.'”

James' play on the court certainly does not suggest that he needs to hang it up any time soon. Last year, in his 22nd season in the NBA, he was named an All-Star and made All-NBA Second Team at the end of the regular season with averages of 24.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 8.2 assists per game.

If James can keep that level of production up coming into next season, it's easy to see a world where he, Doncic and the Lakers quickly become one of the top teams in the Western Conference and can contend for a championship.