AFP
Dubai: LeBron James has been deftly deflecting all questions about his retirement, affirming time and again he is not on a farewell tour this season with the Los Angeles Lakers, even though he teared up during a tribute to his career in Cleveland last month.
Speaking on Sunday ahead of the NBA All-Star Game, the 41-year-old basketball legend admitted his playing future beyond this season remains uncertain.
“Yeah, I want to live,” James said of his post-season plans. “When I know, you guys know. I don’t know. I have no idea. I just want to live, that’s all.”
And while he parried this All-Star Game round of questions about his future with the same basic answer he has given for months, James expressed gratitude for another chance to make memories with Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant on the All-Star stage.
“It’s always an honour to see those guys,” James said. “We’ve had such an unbelievable journey throughout our individual careers and then intersecting at certain points in our careers — matchups in the regular season, Finals appearances, postseason appearances, then Olympics two summers ago. When it comes to me, Steph and KD, we’ll be interlocked for the rest of our careers, for sure.”
Free agent
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As to the length of that career, James repeated his regular declarations that he hasn’t made a decision and he is focused on the final 28 games of the regular season with the Lakers, who are in the thick of the Western Conference playoff race despite major injury problems. James could be a free agent this summer, but the NBA’s all-time scoring leader and a four-time NBA Most Valuable Player said the uncertainty about his future will not impact his efforts to spark the Lakers to the NBA title, which would be a fifth for “King James” in his landmark career.
“It has nothing to do with that,” James said. “Same motivation, same mind factor. We’ve got past the marathon, and now the sprint is about to start.”
James has spoken in the past about his desire to become an NBA owner after his playing career, and the league could soon be exploring expansion. James has noticed, but his next career isn’t his focus.
“There’s a lot of things that I have on the table that I could tap into if I want to, (ownership) being one of them,” James said. “There’s other ventures as well that I’ll continue to explore, and then see what will engage me and motivate me post-career. Right now, I’m still locked in on what’s going in right now with our season, and that’s where my mind is.”
Oldest player
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This season, James has averaged 22.0 points, 7.1 assists, 5.8 rebounds and 1.1 steals a game this season for the Lakers, who rank fifth in the Western Conference at 33-21.
He had said Thursday that he planned to spend his extra time off at home recovering from a season in which he has already missed 18 games due to various health concerns, including sciatica that sidelined him for the Lakers’ first 14 games.
Yet he still headed into this break Thursday by becoming the oldest player in NBA history to record a triple-double.