LeBron James wouldn\u2019t address his future plans in the wake of the Los Angeles Lakers\u2019 season-ending loss on Monday.
\nShortly after the host Denver Nuggets edged Los Angeles 108-106 on a late, tiebreaking basket by Jamal Murray to end their first-round Western Conference playoff series in five games, James was asked if there any thought he might have played his last game with the Lakers.
\nJames paused a long time before replying, \u201cUhhh, I\u2019m not gonna answer that.\u201d
\nAs to whether he plans to plan another season, the 39-year-old veteran replied, \u201cI don\u2019t have an answer \u2026 to be honest. I haven\u2019t given it much thought.\u201d
\nAsked about taking any confidence moving forward from the Lakers pushing the defending champion Nuggets, James said, \u201cNo, \u2019cause we lost. \u2026 I\u2019m not a \u2018participation\u2019 guy. We lost and you move on and see how you can get better.
\n\u201cOur season has been derailed all season with \u2026 injuries and guys in and out. I talked about it all year. \u2026 It\u2019s hard to say who we are, what we can be \u2019cause we have yet to be whole. I think we were only probably whole one or two times this year. I know one of them was during the in-season tournament, we got whole and we showed what we (are) capable of doing.
\n\u201cBut we were just hit with injuries after injuries after injuries, and it\u2019s just hard to come back from that.\u201d
\nThe Lakers won the inaugural in-season tournament, beating the Indiana Pacers 123-109 in the final at Las Vegas on Dec. 9. James was selected the tournament\u2019s Most Valuable Player.
\nIf he decides to come back, James could decide whether to hit free agency or to pick up a $51.4 million player option for the last year of his deal with the Lakers.
\nJames just completed his 21st NBA season, which included his 20th consecutive All-Star Game selection. He is a four-time NBA champion, a four-time NBA Finals MVP and a four-time regular-season MVP.
\nOn Monday, James amassed 30 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds. That ended a campaign in which he averaged 25.7 points, 8.3 assists and 7.3 rebounds in the regular season, then 27.8 points, 8.8 assists and 6.8 rebounds in the Lakers\u2019 five playoff games.
\nThe Akron, Ohio, native is the league\u2019s all-time leading scorer, having passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for that distinction last November.
\n\u2013Field Level MediaLeBron James. LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers, future plans<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LeBron James refused to discuss his future with the Los Angeles Lakers after their season-ending loss to the Denver Nuggets. He mentioned that injuries had derailed their season and that they struggled to play as a full team. Despite his impressive stats, James did not confirm whether he will return next season or opt for free agency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":10153,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[8398,1221,2542,1498,4081,8400,1314,6832,1276,6833,5527,387,2952,8399,421,3461,6305],"class_list":["post-10152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other","tag-basketball","tag-campaign","tag-conference","tag-confidence","tag-future","tag-future-plans","tag-injuries","tag-lebron-james","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-loss","tag-lost","tag-media","tag-nba","tag-sports","tag-tournament","tag-who"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n