LeBron James questions future after Lakers eliminated by Nuggets

LOS ANGELES(AP) — LeBron James began the final game of his 20th NBA seasonwith the highest-scoring postseason half of his matchless NBAcareer.

He ended thenight by questioning how much longer he plans to chase historyafter his Los Angeles Lakers were swept out of the WesternConference finals.

James set apersonal record with 31 points in the first half of Game 4 onMonday night, but he missed two potential tying shots in the finalminute as the Denver Nuggetsendedthe Lakers’ season with a 113-111 victory.

The38-year-old James finished with 40 points, 10 rebounds, nineassists and immense frustration after Los Angeles’ remarkablelate-season surge ended with four consecutive defeats. Although thetop scorer in NBA history spoke about himself as part of the Lakersnext season, James also said he hasn’t made up his mind.

“We’ll seewhat happens going forward,” James said in the final answer of hispostgame news conference. “I don’t know. I don’t know. I’ve got alot to think about, to be honest. Just for me personally goingforward with the game of basketball, I’ve got a lot to thinkabout.”

James isunder contract for $46.9 million next season with the Lakers, buthe is in charge of his future aftersurpassingKareem Abdul-Jabbar’s career scoring recordearlier thisyear. He hasn’t previously suggested much personal conflict aboutfinishing his contract alongside Anthony Davis, and his play hasn’tsignificantly declined after two decades in the NBA — although hishealth has grown less sturdy, particularly in his balky feet andankles.

“It’s allabout availability for me and keeping my mind sharp, and things ofthat nature,” James said. “Being present on the floor, beingpresent in the locker room and bus rides and plane rides, things ofthat nature. It’s challenging, for sure. It was a very challengingseason for me, for our ballclub, and obviously we know whateverwent on early on (in the Lakers’ 2-10 start to the season). It wascool, a pretty cool ride.”

As recently as February, LeBron James seemedto suggest that his retirement was a few years away."I’m not going anywhere," James said. "I’m going to be in thisleague for at least a few more years.” https://t.co/0AsBie5E1g

James misseda month of the regular season with a foot injury down the stretch,but he returned with a series of stellar playoff performances whilethe Lakers knocked off second-seeded Memphis and eliminateddefending champion Golden State. That didn’t matter much to James,whose frustration broke through at several points after Game 4.

“I don’t liketo say it’s a successful year, because I don’t play for anythingbesides winning championships at this point in my career,” Jamessaid. “You know, I don’t get a kick out of making a conference(finals) appearance. I’ve done it a lot, and it’s not fun to me tonot be able to be a part of getting to the (NBA) Finals.”

In hisNBA-record 282nd career playoff game, James dropped 21 points in adynamic first quarter in Game 4. He added 10 more in the secondwhile playing nearly the entire half of a do-or-die game againstthe top-seeded Nuggets.

But James hadonly nine points on 4-of-12 shooting in the second half, and hemissed two chances to score in the final minute. He took a strangefallaway jumper that missed badly with 26 seconds left, and hisfinal drive to the hoop was thwarted by Denver’s Jamal Murray andAaron Gordon at the buzzer.

But the firsthalf was vintage LeBron: He made 11 of his 13 shots and hit four3-pointers without a miss in the highest-scoring playoff half ofhis career, which began in 2003 and has included four NBAchampionships. James added four rebounds and four assists, and healso got a technical foul after a physical exchange with Gordonwhen the two got locked up on the Lakers’ end of the court.

James hadstruggled from distance previously in the series, going 3 for 19 inthe first three games. He fixed his shot in Game 4 — and he evengot credit for a 3-pointer in the first quarter when his lob passto Rui Hachimura accidentally went in the basket.

James alreadyhad the highest scoring average in NBA history in elimination games(33.5 points per game) among all players with at least 10 suchappearances.

After failingto win a title this year, James is clearly thinking about whetherhe wants to do it all again. One major obstacle to any retirementthoughts is his long-stated desire to play an NBA season alongsidehis son, Bronny, who will be a freshman at USC this fall andcouldn’t join the league until the fall of 2024 at theearliest.

“I guess I’llreflect on my career when I’m done, but I don’t know,” James saidwhen asked to assess his 20th season. “The only thing I concernmyself with is being available to my teammates, and I don’t likethe fact that I didn’t play as many games as I would have likedbecause of injury. That’s the only thing I care about, is beingavailable to my teammates.”