Despite LeBron James seemingly teasing a possible retirement this offseason shortly after his Los Angeles Lakers were swept out of the playoffs, virtually everyone expects him back this fall for his 21st season.
According to pundits, James said he has “a lot to think about” when it comes to him “moving forward with the game of basketball” because (take your pick) he was tired after a long season, he was frustrated about getting swept in the Western Conference finals or because he was passive-aggressively pressuring the Lakers to upgrade the roster.
If he made the comment for the third reason, the hot speculation is he wants the team to again pursue Kyrie Irving, his old championship teammate from his second stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
But Jovan Buha reported that according to a team source, that’s not what James’ retirement tease was about.
Via The Athletic:
“From the moment James hinted at retirement following the Lakers being swept by the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference finals, there was a sense among those with and around the organization that his comments were partly a tactic to apply pressure on the franchise to make a significant roster upgrade this offseason. James’ preferred upgrade, many assumed, was Irving. But one team source indicated that James is not using Irving’s interest in playing with him as leverage to try to get the Lakers to trade for Irving this offseason.”
On Monday, a report surfaced that Irving was actually trying to recruit James to force a trade and join him and Luka Doncic on the Dallas Mavericks. The chances of that actually happening seem extremely remote, but James, based on his history, does love forming superteams to stack the deck in his favor.