LeBron admits retirement talk after Nuggets sweep was self-created nonsense

On a night of phony awards, ESPN gave a special phony award to LeBron James, who didn’t win any real trophies this year thanks to the Denver Nuggets.

When it set in for James after the Nuggets swept him that he’d go ringless in 2023, the sports’ all-time leading scorer called uncle and threatened to take his ball and go home. Not many took the 38-year-old seriously but if one of the greatest athletes of all-time is talking about being done, then it’s a story. And that story took away a lot of attention from Denver’s historic sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers.

On Wednesday, James accepted an ESPY for Best Record-Breaking Performance—that celebrated him surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the NBA’s all-time scoring list.

“I don’t care how many more points I can score or what I can or can’t do on the floor,” James said in a gloating speech. “The real question for me is, can I play without cheating this game? The day I can’t play without giving everything on the floor is the day I’ll be done. Lucky for you guys, that day is not today.”

"Lucky for you guys, that day is not today."

Go off, Bron 😂 pic.twitter.com/4X1Fqs0PqX

— ESPN (@espn) July 13, 2023

James’ played nearly every second of the Nuggets Game 4 win that wrapped up the sweep against the Lakers this summer. While James had a sparkling first half, it was in the third quarter where he went on cruise control that Denver took a lead and never looked back. That was win No. 12 en route to a 16-4 postseason where the Nugget also beat the Wolves, Suns and Heat to win a title.

“We’ll see what happens going forward,” James said at the time. “I don’t know. I don’t know. I’ve got a lot to think about to be honest. I’ve got a lot to think about to be honest. Just for me personally going forward with the game of basketball, I’ve got a lot to think about.”

James had been extremely complementarity of Nikola Jokic in the past and during the series but his post-series comparison of the Nuggets big to himself may look sad one day. Jokic’s peak is starting to climb to the heights of James and maybe even surpass him. To James’ credit, before a recent beef with Nuggets coach Michael Malone, the two have had a long beneficial relationship that has spanned much of both of their careers.

But it is just as funny now as it is then that getting swept by the Nuggets, only the third time of James’ career that he had been swept with the other two series coming in the Finals, would make him consider quitting. Especially since everyone knows he’d like to play with his son who is now just one year away from joining the NBA.