current location:HOME > Sports News > Basketball Hub > Text content

Rob Pelinka, Darvin Ham respond to LeBron James considering retirement

nqajqrqw7months ago (05-16)Basketball Hub152

LOS ANGELES(AP) — The Los Angeles Lakers hope LeBron Jameswill decide tocontinue his career after he recovers from the difficult end totheir season.

Jamesdidn’t meet with the media on the day after the top scorer in NBAhistory said he needed time to think about his basketball futurefollowingtheLakers’ elimination from the Western Conference finals.

The38-year-old James has skipped his team’s postseason media exitinterviews before, but his decision Tuesday left Lakers fanshanging about his intentions with his enigmatic comments followinga four-game sweep by the Denver Nuggets.

Generalmanager Rob Pelinka and coach Darvin Ham said they’ll speak withJames soon about his future.

“We allknow that (James) speaks for himself, and we’ll look forward tothose conversations when the time is right,” Pelinka said. “LeBronhas given as much to the game of basketball as anyone who has everplayed. When you do that, you earn a right to decide whether you’regoing to give more. ... Obviously, our hope would be that hiscareer continues, but we want to give him the time to have thatinflection point and support him along the way.”

DespiteJames’ 40-point performance, including a career playoff-best 31points in the first half, the seventh-seeded Lakers were swept bythe top-seeded Nuggets with a 113-111 defeat in Game 4 on Mondaynight, ending James’ attempt to win his fifth career championshipin his 20th NBA season.

Ham joked:“Coming off a tough loss like that, the work we’ve put in thisseason, I think I was ready to retire after last night, too.”

Pelinka andHam declined to speculate on whether James’ frustration stemmedfrom his persistent foot injury, which could conceivably requiresurgery to correct fully. He missed a month of the regular seasondown the stretch, but returned to his usual heavy workload beforethe playoffs.

James hadbeen largely healthy throughout his NBA career until he reached hismid-30s in Los Angeles, where he has missed significant chunks infour of his five seasons.

“Whenthere’s any injury, you seek multiple medical opinions, and therewere some that doubted whether he could play again this season,”Pelinka said. “For him to end the season playing virtually 48minutes and posting a virtual 40-point triple-double as a player inthe 20th year of his NBA career is staggering.”

The Lakersall said they understood why James would question his future afteran outstanding performance in defeat.

“I feellike that’s human nature, to be his age and be playing at the levelhe’s playing at,” Troy Brown Jr. said. “Personally, I feel likebecause of his love of the game, he will continue to play. But Idon’t blame him at all.”

Pelinkasaid he hopes to keep much of the Lakers’ current core around Jamesand Anthony Davis, calling roster continuity “a high priority”after several years of major annual changes. James is due to make$46.9 million in the first season of his two-year, $97 millioncontract extension, but several key contributors to the playoff runare free agents.

“I thinkthere’s proof in concept that this was a really good team,” Pelinkasaid. “But we’re not going to rest on our laurels. If there’sopportunities to get even better, we’re always looking to improve.But we have a core that’s highly successful, and that’s a goodstarting point.”

Los Angeleswas one of the NBA’s best teams after its moves at the tradedeadline, going 18-8 to end the regular season even without James.The Lakers then made an impressive run to the conference finals,knocking off second-seeded Memphis and defending champion GoldenState, but ran out of steam against the powerhouse Nuggets.

“We feellike we’ve got special players in the locker room that enjoyplaying with each other,” Pelinka said. “We know there’s moregrowth and improvement in that group, especially if we get atraining camp together.”

REAVES ANDRUI

Pelinkamade it clear he intends to do everything possible to re-signAustin Reaves. The undrafted second-year pro is a restricted freeagent after seizing a starting job and effectively becoming theLakers’ No. 3 offensive option.

“I want tobe here. It feels like home to me, in a sense,” Reaves said.“Obviously it’s a lot different than my actual home (in Arkansas).It’s a little bigger. Traffic is a little worse. ... But it feelslike a home for me, the way the fans support me, the players, thecoaching staff, front office. It’s just definitely somewhere I wantto be, but we’ll see what happens.”

RuiHachimura also is a restricted free agent, and Pelinka said theLakers hope to keep him as well.

Hachimurasaid his short tenure with the Lakers was “a crazy three months forme. It was one of the best times of my life.”

D-LO’SFUTURE

The Lakers’most prominent unrestricted free agent is D’Angelo Russell, who hadseveral outstanding performances after his trade-deadline return toLos Angeles, but struggled badly enough in the playoffs to lose hisstarting job in the finale.

Russell,who scored only 25 points in the four conference finals games,called the season “a complete success.”

“We’ll seewhat opportunity presents itself, and obviously I’ll do the bestfor myself,” Russell said. “I think the future is bright. I thinkRob Pelinka has some decisions to make, but that’s his job. (I)would love to be here and contribute to that, so we’ll see.”

Share with friends:

“Rob Pelinka, Darvin Ham respond to LeBron James considering retirement” ofrelated articles

Tyrese Maxey wins 2023-2024 Kia NBA Most Improved Player Award

Philadelphia 76ers’ point guardTyrese Maxey has won the 2023-2024 Kia NBA Most Improved Player,the league announced Tuesday night.Maxey, 23, bested se...

Caitlin Clark drops 41 points, Iowa beats LSU to advance to Final Four

The Iowa Hawkeyes are headedback to the Final Four following a sensational performance fromwomen’s college basketball superstar Caitlin Clark.Clark po...

Spencer Dinwiddie getting more comfortable, finding his role on Lakers

For a player of SpencerDinwiddie’s caliber, the start of his stint with the Los AngelesLakers didn't go according to plan. Through his first16 games w...

Raptors trade Pascal Siakam to Pacers for Bruce Brown, 3 firsts

The Indiana Pacers and TorontoRaptors have completed a deal that will send forward Pascal Siakamto Indiana, according to Adrian Wojnarowski ofESPN.The...

NBA joins celebration of first-ever World Basketball Day

The NBA today announced itscelebrations of the first-ever World Basketball Day.Established by the United Nations onAugust 23 during the FIBA World Cup...

Draymond Green suspended 5 games without pay for Rudy Gobert headlock

Golden State Warriorsforward Draymond Green has been suspended five games without payfor "escalating an on-court altercation and forcibly grabbingMinn...