‘Not going to answer that’: LeBron James quiet on future after Lakers’ playoff exit

The futures of LeBron James and Darvin Ham with the Los Angeles Lakers are in murky after their first-round playoff exit to the Denver Nuggets was confirmed Monday night.

For James, the decision whether he wants to wear the purple and gold again in his 22nd NBA season is up to him. For Ham, what matters is whether the team brings him back for a third season as coach after back-to-back series losses to Denver.

Defending champion Nuggets eliminated Los Angeles from the playoffs on Monday with a 108-106 win in Game 5 of their series. After the game, James was asked if he thought this could be the last time he donned his No. 23 Lakers jersey.

“I’m not going to answer that,” said James, who had 30 points and 11 assists.

It was all difficult for James to process so quickly after Jamal Murray drained the winning floater in the final seconds. It was the second game in the series in which Murray hit the winning shot. It was another game where the Lakers took a decent lead, and the series was closer than the 4-1 scoreline would suggest.

James said he took no solace in his team’s ability to push the Nuggets.

“We lost. I’m not a participation guy,” James said. “You move on. …It’s hard to say who we are or who we can be because we have yet to be whole [due to injuries].”

Ham is in first place after a second straight postseason exit at the hands of the Nuggets. He was asked how he would summarize what it has been like leading James and Anthony Davis as the new head coach.

“It’s a great question,” Ham said. “My thoughts are going all over the place at the moment. Maybe someday I’ll give you an answer. It’s been a great two years, I can tell you that. Ultimately you want to win that ultimate prize.”

James demurred when asked about his longtime goal of playing in the pros with his son Bronny. Bronny opened up the possibility of playing in the NBA when he announced this month that he plans to enter this year’s draft while maintaining his college eligibility.

‘I haven’t been thinking much lately. I’ve thought about it in the past,” LeBron said Monday. “The child must do what he wants to do – and I no longer want to say: young man, young man must decide what he wants to do. I just think the fact that we’re having the conversation is pretty cool.

James turns 40 in December and said he will talk to those close to him before making a final decision.

“I’m going to sit down with Rich [Paul], my agent, and sit down with my family and see what’s best, what’s best for my career,” James said. “We will cross that if necessary… [Competing as an older player is] very taxing – mentally, physically, spiritually, everything. It’s a lot of dedication, a lot of hard work and a lot of long hours. It’s very taxing, but it’s also satisfying. Because if you love the game, you love the process and you love being great, then you don’t mind taking the strain on your body and your mind and your psyche and all that stuff that comes with it.”

Meanwhile, Denver will rest before a tough matchup with the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference semifinals. The Nuggets trailed by double digits through the first four games against the Lakers and by nine on Monday night before their championship credentials showed up again just in time.

“[The Lakers] are not an easy out,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said after the game. “LeBron James is perhaps the greatest player of all time. Anthony Davis is a Hall of Famer. And they gave us everything we could handle.

“Now we can try to get ready for Saturday against a beast in Minnesota. But I have to give the Lakers a lot of credit. Man, that was a hard-fought series, much harder than 4-1 would indicate, because we had to scrap for every match we won.

Elsewhere on Monday night, Jalen Williams highlighted a 24-point performance with a backbreaking three with three minutes left, and the Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 97-89 to complete a four-game sweep of their first-round playoff series.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 24 points and 10 rebounds for Oklahoma City, which trailed by five in the fourth quarter before suddenly taking control with a combination of suffocating defense and opportunistic shooting. CJ McCollum scored 20 for New Orleans, but the Pelicans hit just eight of 34 shots from three-point range. The Pelicans were missing their star forward and leading scorer Zion Williamson for all four games in the series.

The Thunder, who are No. 1 in the Western Conference, will face the winners of the series between the LA Clippers and Dallas Mavericks, who are currently tied at 2-2.