LeBron James said he does not know whether his 24-point performance in the Los Angeles Lakers’ season-ending playoff loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday was the final game of his NBA career.
The league’s all-time leading scorer followed a familiar offseason approach, declining to make any immediate announcement about his future after another postseason exit.
He has not ruled out retirement or a return to the Lakers and did not address the possibility of joining another team as he weighs a potential 24th NBA season.
"I don’t know what the future holds for me, obviously, as it stands right now tonight,” the 41-year-old James said. "I’ve got a lot of time now. I think I said it last year after we lost to Minnesota. I’ll go back, recalibrate with my family, talk with them, spend some time with them, and then obviously when the time comes, you guys will know what I decide to do.”
James’ record 23rd season ended with a 115-110 loss, completing a four-game sweep of the short-handed Lakers by the defending NBA champions.
Los Angeles began the playoffs without NBA scoring champion Luka Doncic and second-leading scorer Austin Reaves because of injuries, yet James led the Lakers to a first-round upset of Houston before running into the league’s top team in the second round.
"It’s amazing what he’s doing out there at this age,” Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. "It’s very impressive. It’s hard to put into words. He’s not very old in the grand scheme of life, but for the NBA, he’s pretty old, and he doesn’t seem like it out there. He was a force. He was at the top of the scouting report all series. His size gave us issues at times. I’m not sure we’ll see anything like that again in terms of longevity and greatness.”
James has played more games, won more games, scored more points and taken more shots than anyone in league history, but he has never placed a firm limit on his career.
Instead, he repeated his usual stance, saying he will evaluate his future with his family in the months ahead.
"Nobody has any idea what the future holds, and I don’t either,” James said. "I’ll take time to recalibrate, look over the season and see what’s best for my future, and when I get to that point, everyone will know.”
James showed only limited signs of age catching up with him in his 23rd season, continuing to produce at an elite level throughout the Lakers’ regular season.
Injuries, however, forced significant interruptions. He missed training camp and the first 14 games with sciatica and sat out eight additional regular-season games, ending his streak of All-NBA selections at 21 consecutive seasons.
With Doncic winning the NBA scoring title and Reaves emerging as a top-tier scorer, James embraced a reduced role as the team’s third option, a shift that helped stabilize the offense.
His 20.9 points per game were his lowest since his rookie season, in part due to a drop in 3-point shooting to 31.7%, and his 33.2 minutes per game were the fewest of his career. Even so, he averaged 7.2 assists and 6.1 rebounds and remained a steady presence when the Lakers needed him most.
"It was so many different seasons in one season with our ballclub,” James said. "Obviously injuries played a big part in it, but as far as our identity, I thought it was super resilient.”
James was selected to his 22nd All-Star Game and, just before the break, became the oldest player in NBA history to record a triple-double. He also surpassed Robert Parish for the most regular-season games played in late March.
The Lakers built momentum late in the regular season, winning 16 of 18 games entering April and briefly emerging as a potential playoff threat. That run stalled when Doncic and Reaves suffered significant injuries.
James responded by taking control of the offense again as the Lakers pushed through the first round, where they defeated the fifth-seeded Houston Rockets in six games for just their second trip to the second round since 2020.
"For our group to have the moment that we had when Luka goes down with the hamstring and AR goes down with the oblique and we’re staring down the barrel of a playoff series with Houston, I thought our guys responded and were super resilient,” James said.
His decision on whether to continue his career in Los Angeles will involve multiple factors. He has spent the past two seasons playing alongside his eldest son, Bronny James, a Lakers guard, and the two even shared playoff minutes this season.
His family remains settled in Southern California, and he has often spoken about following the development of his youngest child, 11-year-old Zhuri, a competitive volleyball player.
The Lakers’ late-season surge also suggested potential if fully healthy, though questions remain about whether they can contend in a Western Conference that continues to evolve.
For now, James plans to step away and reflect after another long season, still uncertain about what comes next.
"I left everything I could on the floor,” James said. "I control what I can control, and I can leave the floor saying, even though I hate losing, I was locked in on what we needed to do.”