LeBron James will spend the next few weeks “adjusting and talking to my family” before deciding whether to continue his illustrious career.
The 41-year-old’s 2025/26 season ended last night with the Los Angeles Lakers falling 115-110 to the Oklahoma City Thunder as the defending champions completed a 4-0 sweep of the Western Conference semifinals.
James, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, scored 24 points, pulled down 12 rebounds and did his best to keep the series alive with a great show.
As he has done over the years, he will now take some time to ponder what the future holds, whether that be with the Lakers, another NBA team, or retirement.
“I don’t know what the future holds for me, obviously, as it stands tonight,” he said. “I have a lot of time now. I think I said it last year after we lost in Minnesota. I’m going to go back and rehab with my family and talk to them and spend time with them, and obviously when the time comes, you’ll know what I decide to do.
“No one has any idea what the future holds, and I have no idea either. I’m going to take some time to prepare and look at the season and see what’s best for my future, and when I get to that point, everyone will know.”
James is famous for his hard work, including arriving at the stadium five and a half hours before he was tipped off and says the fire is still burning inside.
He went on to say: “The love for the game is always there, I don’t think that will ever go away.
“The process for me has always been very important. For me, if I fall out of love with this game, I can lose love with this game.”
James is doing his best but he can’t prevent the Lakers’ exit
James is set to take on a limited role for the Lakers this season behind Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, averaging 20.9 points per game but was sidelined when two of his more popular teammates suffered injuries.
“For our team to have the time we had when Luka went down with a hamstring and AR [Reaves] going down the slant and looking down the barrel of a play-off series with Houston, I thought our guys responded and were very strong,” said James.
If last night was his last appearance, he came out in determined fashion, trying to take the series to Game Five.
“I gave up everything I could do,” said James. “I controlled what I could control and I can go down and say, as much as I hate to lose, I was locked into what we needed to do. I tried to make sure our guys locked in what we needed to do throughout the season and obviously we messed up a little bit. But I don’t look at my year as a disappointment, that’s for sure.”
SGA praises James
If James is gone, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the future. The reigning NBA MVP scored 35 points for the Thunder but is still in awe of a player who just completed his season-high 23 points.
“It’s amazing what he’s doing out there these years,” said Gilgeous-Alexander. “It’s very impressive. It’s hard to put it into words. He’s not very old in the grand scheme of things, but in the NBA, he’s very old, and he doesn’t look like that out there. He was strong. He was leading the scouting report all series. His size gave us problems at times. He was impressive there. I’m not sure how tall he is and we’re going to see his height again and we’re going to see his size again.”
