Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – NBA superstar LeBron James says he’ll take time to decide whether to return for a 23rd season after his Los Angeles Lakers were dumped out of the first round of the playoffs by the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday.
“I don’t know,” James said when asked how many more years he would play. “I don’t have the answer to that. (It’s) something I sit down with my family, my wife and my support group and kind of just talk through it and see what happens and just have a conversation with myself on how long I want to continue to play.”
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James, who turned 40 on December 30, averaged 24.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 8.2 assists per game in a season that featured a new set of milestones, but not a fifth title to go with the two he won with Miami in 2012 and 2013, the one he won with hometown team Cleveland in 2016, and his 2020 crown with the Lakers.
Already the league’s all-time leading scorer, in March James became the first player to amass 50,000 career points. He joined NBA icon Michael Jordan as the only players to score 40 points at the age of 40 when he poured in 42 in a Lakers win over Golden State in February. Later that month, he and the Lakers were energized by the addition of Luka Doncic, the Slovenian star who led the Dallas Mavericks to the finals last season.
But James said the most important first achieved this season was playing alongside his son Bronny as the first father-son duo to play together in a regular season NBA game. It was a moment James had long anticipated and became possible when the Lakers drafted Bronny James last year.
“Number one, for sure,” he said of playing with his son. “That’s not even close. To be able to play the game that I love and to be able to be alongside my son, this whole year has been one of the most gratifying, satisfying journeys I’ve ever been on.”
Bronny James played much of the season in the developmental G League, but James said watching him grow from Summer League, through the pre-season and G League competition and in his brief stints with the Lakers made him “super proud.”
James also praised the development of first-year coach JJ Redick, noting that rookie coaches in the NBA face a tough road but that it was “a hell of a lot harder being a rookie head coach coaching the Lakers.” “I thought he handled it extremely well,” James said.
James said when Doncic arrived in February that he was energized by the arrival of a “generational talent” but as he looked back, he wasn’t sure there was enough time “to mesh.” “Ultimately having a guy like that is very dynamic for any franchise,” James said, but he wasn’t ready to be drawn on how the Lakers can improve around Doncic and, perhaps, himself.
“It’s a business, so you don’t know what the roster will look like next year…I don’t know where I stand right now,” he said.
© 2024 AFP
