Lakers star LeBron James has the world holding its breath waiting for his next career move. Will he stay in LA, switch teams, or retire?
It took 192 minutes for the Los Angeles Lakers to get knocked out of the playoffs by the Denver Nuggets.
Time of death: Monday night, May 23, 2023.
It took LeBron James just six words to deliver his own knockout punch to the Lakers franchise, clouding his future in a brief statement after Game 4's loss:
ESPN reporter: You would walk away?
LeBron: I got to think about it.
Time of death: TBD.
LeBron retiring after the Lakers got swept by the Nuggets wouldn't be the absolute worst thing to happen to LA… would it?
In terms of logistics, LeBron has two years left on his $97 million contract extension he signed last August. He will make nearly $47 million next season and roughly $50 million in the 2024-2025 season if he picks up a player option.
Walking away from $100 million certainly feels like an disproportionate reaction to losing the Western Conference Finals, though it's hard to say what LeBron is prioritizing at this point.
LeBron's second year player option allows him to retire if he so chooses, or he can become an unrestricted free agent in the 2024 offseason and fulfill his dream of playing with his son, Bronny. After Game 4's loss, a family reunion with Bronny on the court seemed to be the last thing on LeBron's mind.
Everything LeBron James said after Game 4 loss, including retirement rumors
Here's the full recap of what he told the media on Monday night:
Toward the end of his press conference, he starts to steer the conversation toward his future in the NBA. Lebron notes that he loves to play the game and to compete, and that "I don't play for anything other than winning championships at this point in my career."
Clearly, he's disgruntled about the Lakers' swift execution at the hands of the Nuggets. Such was to be expected.
He pays respects to Darvin Ham, a first-year coach leading the franchise to the Western Conference Finals, and sums up this past season as a "pretty cool ride" before switching his language to more vague and open-ended phrases.
"I don't know… We'll see. We'll see what happens going forward. I don't know. I don't know. I got a lot to think about to be honest."
LeBron ended his presser with the sentence, "Just for me personally, going forward with the game of basketball, I've got a lot to think about."
An ESPN reporter was brave enough to ask a follow-up question to that statement, leading to this short exchange:
When you say you got to think about stuff, what thread should we be pulling on that?
"If I want to continue to play," James said.
As in next year?
"Yeah."
You would walk away?
"I got to think about it."
At first glance, this seems like LeBron is seriously considering retirement. He's going to "think about it," as any player would in the backend of a 20-year NBA career.
The main argument against LeBron retiring this offseason is the fact that for several years now, he has said he wants to stay in the league long enough to play with his son. Why would he hang up his shoes when he's potentially only one year away from doing so?
Assuming he still wants to play with Bronny, his very public act of mulling retirement may have an ulterior motive or two.
One is holding the retirement threat over the Lakers franchise's heads. LeBron may be artificially giving himself more bargaining power to persuade the Lakers to sign any player he wants this summer, Kyrie Irving included. LeBron likely already had some say in the franchise's roster decisions leading up to now, but announcing his potential retirement would be the most surefire way to get the Lakers' attention and whip them into submission.
Most of LA's current roster is set to hit free agency (D'Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura), and the team could use a few more additions to compete for a title next year, so LeBron could be forcing his way into the boardroom to make those decisions himself. LeGM, as his critics call him.
The other ulterior motive is a crazy (or is it?) idea that The Ringer's Kevin O'Connor brings up: LeBron wants to demand a trade… to the Golden State Warriors.
Draymond loves LeBron. LeBron loves Steph. That whole love triangle would work itself out.
As for the Lakers, Los Angeles could get a king's ransom in return for The King himself.
O'Connor writes:
If LeBron wants out, the Lakers could retain those future assets and could ask for all of Golden State's young talent: Jordan Poole, Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody, and a boatload of picks. Follow that up by flipping AD to his hometown Bulls or the highest bidder, re-signing their own young players, and the Lakers could then build a youthful team, poised for the arrival of the next megastar.
No player has drawn as much attention in the NBA as LeBron James has for the past two decades, and that's not going to stop now. Welcome to the Offseason of LeBron.
