Following the Los Angeles Lakers’ NBA playoff exit Monday at the hands of the Denver Nuggets, Lakers star LeBron James has left his future with the team uncertain.
The Lakers were narrowly defeated by the Nuggets with a score of 108-106 at Denver’s Ball Arena, in Game 5 of their first-round series. That gave the Lakers a 4-1 defeat in the best-of-seven-games series and an early end to their playoff hopes.
During a post-game interview, James was asked a series of questions from sports reporters and his answers presented more curiosity than answers about what his future at the NBA holds.
“The way you guys finished the regular season with the defending champions, the way that you guys did, does that give you or instill any further confidence in this group if it stays together? Obviously that includes you. But just this group as a whole?” James was asked.
He response wa quick, cool and stern.
“No. Cuz we lost. I’m not a participation guy,” he said. “We lost and, you know, you move on and see how you can get better.”
James also said the season “has been derailed” due to “injuries” and “we have yet to be whole,” adding that the team was whole perhaps just once or twice this season.
However, the hardest-hitting question that has everyone curious was delivered by LA Times sports columnist Dylan Hernández, who asked James if Monday night’s game may have been his last time playing for the Lakers.
“Ummm,” James started to say, while looking at Hernández: “I’m not going to answer that.”
Then he grinned, in a way that seemed to say he knew exactly what the answer was.
“Appreciate it,” he said, before walking off the podium.
James’ expression, and that non-answer, might have been all the answer NBA watchers need. James is known as a fierce competitor, and at 39, his body’s clock is running out the way it runs out on every athlete — no matter how great.
If he’s willing to state publicly — and irrevocably — that he lacks confidence in the Lakers as presently constituted, and flatly refuses to even speculate on his future with the team, James might as well be shooting up flares to the Lakers organization, his teammates, his fans and the rest of the NBA that he’s more than open to moving on.
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In a column published Tuesday, under the headline, “Did LeBron James play his last game with the Lakers? Let the offseason of intrigue begin,” YahooSports senior NBA reporter Vincent Goodwill noted that he detected “a familiar gleam” in James’ eye during the Monday news conference.
James “turned the tables again on his way out of the building, with a glimmer of intrigue as he left us hanging once again — knowing the conversation is just beginning,” Goodwill concluded.
Maybe. And maybe James already gave the answer.
Speculation about James’s career has been a hot topic, particularly considering the possibility that he may have the opportunity to play alongside his son, Bronny, 19, who recently announced his intention to enter the NBA Draft as well as enter the NCAA transfer portal for a potential move from the University of Southern California.
During Game 4 of the first-round NBA playoff series against the Nuggets on Saturday, James and head coach Darvin Ham had a heated exchange at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Despite the distraction, James and teammate Anthony Davis led the Lakers to a 119-108 victory, with James contributing 30 points. It secured the Lakers win of the series and keeping their playoff hopes alive at least through the weekend.
However, Monday’s defeat in Game 5 marks another year of playoff disappointments for the Lakers and has intensified discussions about James’s pursuit of a fifth NBA Championship with potentially another team next season.
James has won four NBA Championships so far in 2012, 2013, 2016 and 2020.
He has been with the Lakers for six seasons and his 2020 win was with the Lakers.
Prior to joining the Lakers, James, a native of Akron, Ohio, played with the Miami Heat and twice with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“I just wanna get home to the family, honestly, and start looking at the schedule,” James remarked earlier in the post-game interview.
