The Los Angeles Lakers were eliminated from the playoffs Monday night despite a historic performance from LeBron James, who notched a personal best in points scored in a half in his playoff career with 31 points.
Reflecting on the season postgame, James expressed pride in the Lakers’ resilience after a slow start, but didn’t commit to playing in 2023-24. As of this very moment, LeBron is unsure if he’ll be back with LA next season and the general consensus is he’s mulling retirement.
Of course, everything James says and does is calculated. If you read the tea leaves, LeBron seemingly is drumming up retirement speculation as a leverage play against the Lakers so the front office goes all in this summer.