LeBron James' absence in these Rio Olympics is glaring. It's like watching a dragon without a head. It's still scary, but there's no fire. James elected to sit out this summer after A) winning the NBA title and B) concerns over the Zika virus outbreak arose.

Team USA has struggled, relatively speaking, without the best player in the world.

With James turning 32 in December, it's natural to think that this would mean the end of his Olympic career. He's won two gold medals, which caps a great international career during which he helped right the program with the 2008 "Redeem Team" after the embarrassing 2004 showing in which Team USA took home the bronze medal.

But apparently, James doesn't consider himself retired from Team USA. He spoke with Rachel Nichols on Tuesday:

James will be 35 going on 36 when the games shift to Japan. It's easy to say that he still wants to play now, but after four more years of NBA play, and likely four more years of deep playoff runs, that's just a lot of miles on him. LeBron at 35 is better than most players at any point in their lives, but he won't be the guy he is now. Despite how little he resembles a human being at times, physically, he is, and age will take its toll as it always does.

LeBron James has a laugh with Coach K
LeBron James says he isn't done with Team USA. USATSI

Would James want to go through the practices and travel away from family if he wasn't going to be a top member of the team? It's hard to see this happening. Then again, James is the outlier physically, and even if his skill slips, he enjoys team environments so much and recognizes how special the experience is, so he may want to go anyway.

Either way, if he wants to play, Team USA isn't going to turn down the King. Stay tuned.