The NBA’s all-time leading scorer alluded to retirement after the Lakers’ playoff exit this week. Only he can decide if continuing is worth it
When LeBron James broke the NBA’s individual scoring record in February, he was unusually reflective. He described his two decades in the league as a rollercoaster: “Like one of the great rides. You get off just wanting to do it again. My career has been like that. Your stomach drops at times, you’re yelling, sometimes you can’t breathe. But you always want to do it again.” He later clarified that: “I’m not going nowhere. But [I know] it sounds like I am. I’m gonna go get something to eat, I’m gonna drink some wine, then I’m gonna drink some Lobos, and I’m probably not gonna sleep tonight. So I will see y’all when I see y’all, and I hope you had a great time too.”
Much of what happened to James after that record-breaking night was surprising. At the trade deadline, the Los Angeles Lakers, who started the season 2-10, shipped off Russell Westbrook and revamped their roster. They then staged one of the most impressive turnarounds in recent NBA history and carried their newfound momentum all the way to the Western Conference finals, where they were swept 4-0 by the Denver Nuggets. The Lakers were better than the result suggests: James and his teammates put up a valiant effort against the championship-favorite Nuggets, losing the four down-to-the-wire games by a combined total of just 24 points. The Nuggets’ nearly flawless roster and boundless energy proved too much for an exhausted Lakers team that had been battling hard for months just to qualify for the playoffs.