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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
Paris 2024 is on the horizon, but first LeBron James wants to spend | |
time with family after LA Lakers crash out of playoffs | |
By Sam Joseph, CNN | |
Updated: | |
6:47 AM EDT, Tue April 30, 2024 | |
Source: CNN | |
After being dispatched in five games by the reigning champion , spoke | |
to the media about what’s next for the Los Angeles Lakers’ | |
superstar. | |
Denver clinched a 4-1 series victory on Monday to send the Purple and | |
Gold packing from the postseason for the second year in a row. | |
It is the fourth time James has failed to advance beyond the first | |
round in his six years as a Laker, after falling to the Phoenix Suns in | |
2021 and missing the playoffs entirely in 2019 and 2022 – though LA | |
did win a championship in the pandemic-affected 2020 campaign. | |
With his season once again coming to a premature end, James is looking | |
forward to spending some time away from basketball. | |
“I just want to get home to the family, honestly,” James said after | |
the game. “One of my boys is trying to decide if he’s going to | |
enter the draft or go back to school,” added James, referring to his | |
. | |
“I got another kid who’s playing AAU ball right now. My | |
daughter’s playing volleyball and my wife is doing so many great | |
things, so it’s about family right now.” | |
Despite the lopsided series scoreline, the Nuggets were frequently | |
pushed by the Lakers and relied on the heroics of point guard Jamal | |
Murray in the final seconds of the game on two separate occasions. | |
James, playing in his 21st season in the league, 27.8 points across the | |
five games along with 6.8 rebounds, 8.8 assists, 2.4 steals and one | |
block. | |
Despite the silver lining of an extended break from the sport, the | |
summer won’t be one long vacation for James. | |
He will head to Paris to represent in the alongside the likes of Kevin | |
Durant and Steph Curry, with the 39-year-old stressing; “I have to | |
rest my body for USA basketball.” | |
The next couple of months will also provide time for James to consider | |
his future as a Laker. ‘The King’ holds a player option in his | |
contract and is eligible to become a free agent this offseason, but | |
remained coy on his plans for next season. | |
“I’m not going to answer that,” he responded when asked about his | |
future with the franchise before walking off the podium. | |
James was equally vague on whether he still held a desire to play with | |
his son Bronny in the NBA and insisted that it is not his decision to | |
make. | |
“I don’t know, I haven’t given it much thought lately,” James | |
said. “Obviously, I thought about it in the past, but at the end of | |
the day, the kid has to do what he wants to do. I don’t even want to | |
say kid anymore, the young man will decide what to do and how he wants | |
to decide how he wants his career to go.” | |
Bronny, who returned to the court in December after suffering a cardiac | |
arrest in July last year, recently completed his freshman college | |
season at the University of Southern California and in April while | |
retaining his college eligibility. | |
While it is unclear whether the will still be donning the Purple and | |
Gold in October or if he will have the chance to share the floor with | |
his son, all signs point towards James returning for a record-equaling | |
22nd season in the league. | |
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