LeBron James’ next decision will have to wait.
James didn’t have much of an update on his future on Wednesday night following the Los Angeles Lakers’ 103-96 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, which officially knocked them out of the playoffs.
“I don’t know. I don’t have the answer to that,” James said. “It’s something I’ll sit down with my family, my wife, and my support group and kind of just talk through it and see what happens. And have conversations with myself on how much longer I want to continue to play. I don’t know the answer to that right now, to be honest. We’ll see.”
There’s no disputing that James is at the tail end of his career. He just wrapped up his seventh season with the Lakers and his 22nd year in the NBA. He’s now 40 years old, and will be 41 by the time the next season ends. James has a year left on his two-year, $101 million deal with the Lakers, though he’s got a player option and holds just about all of the power when it comes to what’s next for him.
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His stats haven’t really slipped much at all, either. James averaged 24.4 points, 8.2 assists and 7.8 rebounds per game this season, which isn’t far off his better seasons on paper. But James can’t keep this up for much longer. He’s already tied with Vince Carter for the most seasons played in NBA history, and it’s going to only get harder and harder to both stay healthy and keep up.
James has accomplished everything possible in his career already, too. The four-time MVP has led three different franchises to NBA titles throughout his career. He’s the NBA’s all-time scoring leader, among the plenty of other accolades he’s picked up. He also got to team up with his eldest son, Bronny, this season on the Lakers in yet another NBA first — which is something he’d long said he wanted to do before he retired.
James had 22 points, seven rebounds and six assists in Game 5 on Wednesday night. The Lakers have been to the playoffs in five of his seven seasons with the team, and they won a championship in 2020, but they’ve been knocked out in the first round of the postseason in back-to-back years now.
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The Lakers have some work to do with their roster. It felt like things were a bit thrown together after landing Luka Dončić in a stunning midseason trade. James, though, isn’t ready to worry about that yet.
James is sure to make an announcement about his future, whatever it may be, in the near future. It’s not too surprising that he didn’t have a response ready to go in the immediate aftermath of Wednesday’s loss.
While we don’t know yet what James is going to do, Bronny confirmed he plans to participate in Summer League in Las Vegas in a few months. That’s something, at least.
“Alright, have a good offseason,” James said to Bronny after the younger James finished speaking with reporters on Wednesday. “I’ll see you when I see you.”
