LeBron James admitted Wednesday that he's uncertain about how much longer he intends to continue playing in the NBA.
"I don't know," James said after the Los Angeles Lakers' series-ending Game 5 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, courtesy of Dave McMenamin of ESPN.
"I don't have an answer to that. ... I'll 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. I don't know the answer to that right now to be honest. So we'll see."
The 40-year-old's contract features a player option worth $52.6 million for next season that he must decide on by June 29. If he returns, James will break his tie with retired Hall of Famer Vince Carter for most NBA seasons played by one player. Both are currently at 22 seasons.
Playoff success has eluded the 21-time All-Star since he won his fourth career NBA title in his second season in L.A. In the five campaigns since that 2020 championship, the Lakers have failed to make the playoffs as many times as they've advanced past the first round, and that solitary trip in 2023 ended in a four-game sweep by the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference finals.
This year's early elimination also marks the first time in James' career that he's suffered first-round exits in back-to-back seasons.
James clarified Wednesday that the uncertainty about his future is regarding his career as a whole and not regarding any doubts about returning to the Lakers, according to McMenamin.
He did, however, take a reserved approach when asked if he felt taxed playing without an experienced center after Anthony Davis was shipped to the Dallas Mavericks in the trade that brought over Luka Doncic.
"No comment. I'll never say that, because my guy AD said what he needed, and then he was gone the following week," he told reporters while laughing. "I got no comment. I put that uniform on every night, I gave everything I had and that's all that matters."
After just seven seasons in L.A., at an average of 60 games played each year, James has already cracked the top 10 in several of the iconic franchise's all-time leaderboards. His 943 threes as a Laker are second only to the 1,827 scored by the late Kobe Bryant throughout his 20-year career with the club. James' 49 triple-doubles in purple and gold are also second only to Magic Johnson's 138, and he already ranks eighth in assists (3,376) and 10th in points (11,146).
He also broke the NBA's all-time scoring record as a member of the Lakers, a mark long held by another franchise legend in Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. James surpassed Abdul-Jabbar on Feb. 8, 2023 and now sits at 42,184 total regular-season points, nearly 12,000 more than the next active player (Kevin Durant, 30,571).
