LeBron James Floats Idea Of Retiring After Lakers Get Swept, But There's No Way He Calls It Quits This Offseason

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The thought of retiring has entered LeBron James' mind, at least he wants us all to think it has.

Following the Los Angeles Lakers being swept by the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals on Monday night, James was asked what his plans are for next year. While most were expecting him to give a generic answer about getting to the NBA Finals, that isn't the route he took.

“We’ll see, we’ll see what happens going forward,” James said. “I don’t know. I don’t know. I’ve got a lot to think about, to be honest. I’ve got a lot to think about, to be honest. Just for me, going forward with the game of basketball, I’ve got a lot to think about.”

After sharing the somewhat cryptic message, ESPN was able to speak with James and he confirmed that he was indeed referring to potentially retiring this offseason.

"When you say you got to think about stuff, what thread should we be pulling on that," ESPN asked

"If I want to continue to play," James said. "As in next year," ESPN asked. "Yeah, I got to think about it," James continued.

LeBron James floats the idea of retiring, but it makes no sense. (Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images)

To add to his very clear comments about potentially calling it quits, James will turn 39 years old in December and just completed his 20th season in the NBA. While on paper it may make sense for James to retire this offseason, in reality, it makes no sense whatsoever.

LeBron Retiring After Being Swept Makes No Sense At All

First and foremost, it's hard to imagine James retiring after he and his Lakers were swept in the Western Conference Finals. James doesn't seem like a guy who would simply walk away in incredibly non-dramatic fashion after losing the last four playoff games of his career.

With that in mind, James making these comments may be by design.

The story about the Lakers being swept by the Nuggets is no longer on anyone's mind, the story is now whether or not James retires. Talking heads will debate whether or not James will retire for the next 48 hours at a minimum without talking about the Lakers being swept for more than 12 seconds.

James has also said on multiple occasions that he wants to play in the NBA with his son, Bronny James.

Bronny recently committed to play at USC next season and will be NBA Draft eligible following his freshman year.

LeBron holding out and retiring after the 2024-25 season after playing a year with Bronny makes all the sense in the world, retiring after being embarrassed makes no sense whatsoever.

Follow Mark Harris on Twitter @ItIsMarkHarris

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Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the world of professional golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. He somehow survived living in Knoxville despite ‘Rocky Top’ being his least favorite song ever written. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016 when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.