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05/12/26 02:20:00
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05/12 02:18 CDT LeBron James hasn't decided whether to return for a 24th NBA
season after Lakers' playoff run ends
LeBron James hasn't decided whether to return for a 24th NBA season after
Lakers' playoff run ends
By GREG BEACHAM
AP Sports Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) --- LeBron James says he has no idea whether his 24-point
performance in the Los Angeles Lakers' season-ending playoff loss to the
Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday night was the final game of his NBA career.
The top scorer in league history stuck to the strategy he has taken into the
past several summers when he declined to announce his future immediately after
the Lakers' final postseason defeat.
He hasn't ruled out retirement or a return to the Lakers, and he said nothing
about the possibility of moving to another team as he contemplates an
unprecedented 24th NBA season.
"I don't know what the future holds for me, obviously, as it stands right now
tonight," the 41-year-old James said. "I've got a lot of time now. I think I
said it last year after we lost to Minnesota. I'll go back and recalibrate with
my family and talk with them and spend some time with them, and then obviously
when the time comes, you guys will know what I decide to do."
James' record 23rd season ended with a heartbreaking 115-110 loss, completing a
four-game sweep of the short-handed Lakers by the defending NBA champions. Los
Angeles began the playoffs without NBA scoring champ Luka Doncic and
second-leading scorer Austin Reaves due to injury, yet James led the Lakers to
a first-round upset of Houston before running into the league's best team in
the second round.
"It's amazing what he's doing out there at this age," Thunder superstar Shai
Gilgeous-Alexander said. "It's very impressive. It's hard to put it to words.
He's not very old in the grand scheme of life, but for the NBA, he's pretty
old, and he doesn't seem like it out there. He was a force. He was the top of
the scouting report all series. His size gave us issues at times. He was
impressive out there. I'm not sure we'll see anything like that again, his
longevity and his greatness."
James has played in more games, won more games, scored more points and taken
more shots than everybody else who ever put on a uniform, but he has never put
a limit on his time in the game.
Instead, he repeated his oft-stated declarations that he'll figure it out with
his family over a few glasses of wine in the next couple of months.
"Nobody has any idea what the future holds, and I don't either," James said.
"I'll take time to recalibrate and look over the season and see what's best for
my future, and when I get to that point, everyone will know."
James showed only marginal signs of age's encroachment in his 23rd season,
continuing to play versatile basketball at an elite level throughout the
Lakers' successful regular season.
Injuries forced his largest compromises: He missed training camp and the first
14 games of the season with sciatica, and he missed eight additional games
during the regular season, eliminating him from consideration for inclusion on
the All-NBA teams for the 22nd consecutive time.
With Doncic winning the NBA scoring title and Reaves emerging as a legitimate
top-level NBA scorer, James willingly assumed a supporting role as the No. 3
option in the Lakers' offense --- and it worked.
His 20.9 points per game were his fewest since his rookie season, largely
because his 3-point shooting accuracy declined to 31.7%, and his 33.2 minutes
per game were his fewest ever. Yet he contributed 7.2 assists and 6.1 rebounds
with another season of steady performances --- and when the Lakers needed him
to step up, he did it repeatedly.
"It was so many different seasons in one season with our ballclub," James said.
"Obviously injuries played a big part in it, but as far as our identity, I
thought it was super-resilient."
James was chosen for the All-Star Game for the 22nd time, and right before the
midseason break, he became the oldest player in NBA history to record a
triple-double. He surpassed Robert Parish's record for the most regular-season
games played in late March.
The Lakers picked up steam down the stretch in the regular season, winning 16
of 18 heading into April and kindling hope of being a dark-horse candidate to
give trouble to the Thunder or Spurs in the playoffs. But that's when Doncic
and Reaves both incurred major injuries, sidelining both indefinitely.
James handled the disappointment by stepping up and coolly taking charge of the
Lakers' offense again. While nearly every NBA observer wrote off Los Angeles'
chances of any playoff run, James and his supporting cast improbably knocked
off the fifth-seeded Houston Rockets in six games in the first round, sending
the Lakers into the second round for only the second time since 2020.
"For our group to have the moment that we had when Luka goes down with the
hamstring and AR goes down with the oblique and we're staring down the barrel
of a playoff series with Houston, I thought our guys responded and were just
super-resilient," James said. "To win that series was big-time for the group
that went out there."
James' reasons to prolong his career in Los Angeles would be multifold.
He has spent the past two seasons playing alongside Bronny James, his oldest
son and a backup guard for the Lakers. They even got significant playoff
minutes together this season, allowing LeBron to live another dream.
His family loves living in Southern California --- and while his sons are both
out of the family home, he has spoken frequently of his desire to watch the
progress of his 11-year-old daughter, Zhuri, a competitive volleyball player.
And the Lakers' outstanding play down the stretch suggested they could be among
the NBA's best teams with full health for Doncic, James and Reaves --- who is
expected to sign a massive contract to stay with the Lakers this summer.
Whether the Lakers can actually contend for a championship next season will be
one factor that James must weigh, but finding a true title contender to join at
this stage of his career would be difficult even if the Thunder and the rising
San Antonio Spurs didn't appear to be head and shoulders above the rest of the
league.
For now, James will take time off to enjoy life away from the daily grind that
has allowed his career to reach unprecedented lengths --- and if he decides not
to come back, he doesn't appear to have regrets about how this season ended."
"I left everything I could on the floor," James said. "I control what I can
control, and I can leave the floor saying even though I hate losing, I was
locked in on what we needed to do."
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA
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