LeBron James just wrapped up his 20th season in the NBA. The King was swept by the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals.
Following the 4-0 defeat, James dropped a hint about potentially retiring this summer. It took the NBA world by storm. ESPN’s Dave McMenamin spoke to a source close to LeBron James, who revealed the potential reasons why the King might retire.
“I spoke to a source close to LeBron after I walked out of the arena, and I told him what LeBron had just told me, and he kind of walked through the playoffs with me, he’s like, ‘Man, LeBron really felt the effects of the travel and the physicality in the first round against Memphis,’ then he said, ‘The second round against Golden State brought back some old demons about all those finals matchups they had that LeBron was on the losing side on a few of them and that was an emotional toll that it took on him, but then you get through Golden State, and you feel like you’ve had everything you had to give, you left it on the court against the Denver Nuggets, and you still get swept.’
“So, certainly, there’s [an] amount of frustration in the mix with these comments from LeBron right now, but there’s also the idea that he’s never made a comment like this before, and this isn’t a natural break. He’s still under contract for next season. He has a player option in the season after that. It’s not like he’s a free agent, and it’s the time where you take stock of things, and you access things.”
McMenamin finished his reporting by giving a final assessment of LeBron and the Lakers’ 2022-23 NBA season.
“He is certainly had a wild ride with this Lakers team from 2-10 to being swept in the conference finals, and he’s going to take some stock of where his life is going to go with his basketball career this summer.”
More about the LeBron James retirement rumors via @mcten pic.twitter.com/aL3zHdeFYE
— Lakers Lead (@LakersLead) May 23, 2023
LeBron James is 38 years old and is still one of the best players in the NBA. He averaged 24.5 PPG, 9.9 RPG, 6.5 APG, 1.1 SPG, and 1.1 BPG while shooting 49.8% from the field and 26.4% from beyond the three-point line in the 2023 playoffs.
Now, these are not terrible numbers for a player, but these aren’t your typical LeBron James. Moreover, there were times when the King genuinely looked exhausted. On top of that, he was still dealing with the aftereffects of the ankle injury he suffered in the second half of the regular season.
Is LeBron James Really Retiring From The NBA?
There’s no doubt that the 2022-23 NBA season was full of ups and downs for LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers. While many consider this season a success, James is certainly not one of them.
He revealed that at this point in his career, he doesn’t play for anything besides winning championships. Keeping that in mind, this season was a failure for James.
Now, there is a possibility that LeBron is genuinely exhausted and is ready to hang up his sneakers. But there is also a chance that it is a tactic by James to put pressure on the Lakers to go all-in on a player like Kyrie Irving.
Either way, even if James doesn’t retire from the NBA this summer, he will in a couple of years. After all, fans have finally started to see a bit of regression in LeBron’s play. Maybe if he gets an entire summer’s rehab on his ankle injury, he’ll get back to his best and ultimately lead the Lakers to another NBA title before bidding farewell to the game of basketball.
We sincerely appreciate and respect you as a reader of our site. It would help us a lot if you follow us on Google News because of the latest update.
Thanks for following us. We really appreciate your support.
