The Los Angeles Lakers hope that LeBron James decides to continue his career after he recovers from the difficult end of his season.
James did not meet with the media the day after the leading scorer in NBA history said he needed time to think about his future in basketball following the Lakers’ elimination from the Western Conference finals.
James, 38, has skipped his team’s postseason media exit interviews earlier, but his decision Tuesday left Lakers fans wondering about his intentions with his cryptic comments following a four-game sweep against the Denver Nuggets.
General manager Rob Pelinka and coach Darvin Ham said they will talk to James about his future soon.
“We all know that (James) speaks for himself, and we look forward to those conversations when the time is right,” Pelinka said. “LeBron has given as much to the game of basketball as anyone who’s ever played. When you do that, you earn the right to decide if you’re going to give more…Obviously our hope would be that his career continues, but we want to give him time to have that turning point and support him along the way”.
Despite James’ 40-point performance, including a career-high 31 points in the first half in the playoffs, the seventh-seeded Lakers were swept by the top-seeded Nuggets with a 113 loss. -111 in Game 4 on Monday night, ending James. trying to win the fifth championship of his career in his 20th season in the NBA.
Ham quipped: “After a tough loss like that, the work we’ve put in this season, I think I was ready to retire after last night as well.”
Pelinka and Ham declined to speculate on whether James’ frustration stemmed from his persistent foot injury, which may require surgery to fully correct. He missed a month of the regular season down the stretch, but returned to his usual heavy workload before the playoffs.
James had been largely healthy throughout his NBA career until he reached 30 in Los Angeles, where he has missed significant parts in four of his five seasons.
“When there’s an injury, you seek multiple medical opinions, and there were some who questioned whether he would be able to play again this season,” Pelinka said. “For him to finish the season playing virtually 48 minutes and recording a virtual 40-point triple-double as a player in the 20th year of his NBA career is amazing.”
The Lakers all said they understood why James would question his future after an outstanding performance in the loss.
“I feel like that’s human nature, to be his age and play at the level that he’s playing,” Troy Brown Jr. said. “Personally, I feel that because of his love for the game, he’s going to keep playing. But I don’t blame him at all.”
Pelinka said he hopes to keep much of the Lakers’ current core around James and Anthony Davis, calling roster continuity “a high priority” after several years of major annual changes. James is due to make $46.9 million in the first season of his two-year, $97 million contract extension, but several key contributors to the playoff run are free agents.
“I think there’s proof of concept that this was a very good team,” Pelinka said. “But we’re not going to rest on our laurels. If there are opportunities to get even better, we’re always looking to improve. But we have a core that is very successful and that’s a good starting point.”
Los Angeles was one of the best teams in the NBA after their trade deadline moves, going 18-8 to finish the regular season even without James. The Lakers then made an impressive run to the conference finals, eliminating second-seeded Memphis and defending champion Golden State, but ran out of steam against the mighty Nuggets.
“We feel like we have special players in the locker room who enjoy playing together,” Pelinka said. “We know there’s more growth and improvement in that group, especially if we do training camp together.”