LeBron James hints at retirement after Lakers are swept by Nuggets

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Melissa Rohlin

FOX Sports NBA Writer

LeBron James ended his postgame press conference with an eyebrow-raising message after the Los Angeles Lakers got swept by the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference finals on Monday, seemingly hinting that he could be contemplating retiring.

“I don’t like to say it’s a successful year because I don’t play for anything besides winning championships at this point in my career,” James said. “You know, I don’t get a kick out of making a Conference [Finals] appearance. I’ve done it, a lot. And it’s not fun to me to not be able to be a part of getting to the Finals.

“We’ll see what happens going forward. I don’t know. I don’t know. I’ve got a lot to think about, to be honest. I’ve got a lot to think about, to be honest. Just for me personally going forward with the game of basketball, I’ve got a lot to think about.”

James was coming off of one of the most impressive performances of his playoff career, finishing with 40 points, nine rebounds and nine assists, including a playoff career-high for points in a half (31).

But it wasn’t enough, with the Lakers falling to the Nuggets, 113-111.

At age 38, he played in all but four seconds of Game 4. He scored nearly twice as much as any of his teammates, with the next highest-scorer being Anthony Davis, who had 21 points.

The Lakers led by as much as 15 points in the first half before the Nuggets outscored them in the third quarter, 36-16. With the Nuggets up 113-111, James had two chances to tie the score in the final 26 seconds, but he missed both a 20-foot fadeaway and a five-foot floater.

James is a four-time champion who has been to the Finals 10 times over his 20-season career. After winning a championship with the Lakers in 2020, L.A. was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs in 2021 and missed the playoffs altogether last season.

This season, following a 2-10 start and being in 13th place in the Western Conference in late February, James led his team to being eight wins away from his fifth title.

James has made it clear in the past that he wants to remain in the NBA long enough to play with his son, Bronny, who recently committed to USC and will be eligible to play in the NBA during the 2024-25 season.

Melissa Rohlin is an NBA writer for FOX Sports. She previously covered the league for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Times, the Bay Area News Group and the San Antonio Express-News. Follow her on Twitter @melissarohlin.