LeBron fuels retirement speculation

LeBron James is reportedly considering retirement from basketball after the Los Angeles Lakers were swept out of the NBA playoffs by the Denver Nuggets on Monday.

ESPN reported that the 38-year-old was thinking about "walking away "from the sport after the Lakers' defeat brought the curtain down on his 20th season in the league.

Chris Haynes, a reporter for the TNT broadcaster, said in a separate tweet citing league sources that James' retirement was "under consideration".

James himself fueled speculation about his future in a cryptic postgame news conference.

Asked for his thoughts on the past season, during which he became the league's all-time leading scorer, James replied: "I don't know. I think it was OK.I don't like to say it's a successful year because I don't play for anything besides winning championships at this point in my career.

"I don't get a kick out of making a conference (finals) appearance. I've done it, a lot. And it's not fun to me to not be able to be a part of getting to the Finals.

"But we'll see... I don't know. I've got a lot to think about to be honest."

AFP