B/R NBA Staff Roundtable: Buy or Sell LeBron James Retiring This Offseason?

After sweeping through the conference finals, the Denver Nuggets are headed to their first NBA Finals, but LeBron James dropped some postgame nuggets of his own that have completely redirected much of the media's attention back to him and the Los Angeles Lakers.

During his postgame press conference, LeBron said, "I've got a lot to think about... Just for me personally going forward with the game of basketball, I've got a lot to think about."

Before the night ended, Bleacher Report's Chris Haynes reported that the King was considering retirement.

But just how serious is this?

Is LeBron simply feeling the sting of a 4-0 playoff exit? And will those feelings wear off in the coming days? Is he putting this out there to apply a little pressure on the Lakers front office? Maybe he'd just take a gap year and come back when his son Bronny enters the league.

Speculation was rampant on the internet Monday night and into Tuesday morning. And it'll likely keep running wild till we get a firm decision from LeBron one way or the other.

In the meantime, Bleacher Report's NBA staff is here to dissect the news for you with a tried and true approach: Buy or Sell?

Have we really seen LeBron's last NBA game? Our best takes on the answer are below.

Imagine training and running for 20 marathons—one per year. Then, immediately after crossing the finish line of No. 20, imagine being asked whether you want to run another one next year and when you'll begin training for it.

In that moment, you're exhausted. Depending on how well you performed, you might be blinded by euphoria or disappointment, too. It can be difficult to answer questions about starting over, again, so soon after reaching the end. Your response is liable to be cryptic, if not disarmingly final.

That's how I view LeBron James' comments from Monday night. He's 38. He had wrapped up Year 20 just moments before. The Nuggets swept his Lakers. He played almost all 48 minutes of Game 4, dropped 40 points and nine assists on 15-of-25 shooting and it still wasn't enough.

With age comes introspection. And LeBron's own reflection is compounded by the gravity of what just transpired. It's understandable that the end of a season, in the tumult of the moment, would have him pondering, maybe indulging, his career's mortality and whether he wants to do this, all of it, all over again.

This could also simply be a scare tactic—a chess master's way of continuing to apply pressure to a Lakers franchise that has flubbed offseasons in the past. By leveraging the prospect of retirement, LeBron ensures both internal and external forces will push L.A. to aggressively pursue better depth, another star (Kyrie?) and anything or anyone else that might arm the team to fare better than it did this season.

Really, though, he isn't going anywhere.

Verdict: Sell

—Dan Favale

Getting swept with a roster that was recently rebuilt had to be discouraging for LeBron James. Just floating the idea of retirement almost seemed more like a threat to the organization that creates more pressure for the front office to make necessary roster changes.

Zero part of me actually believes he's going to permanently hang it up and go out on this note. Could he take a year off, wait for Bronny and then decide where to play in 2024-25? It's possible. It seems more likely he'll first try to play general manager behind the scenes and push for moves he thinks can improve the team's chances of contending in 2023-24. But the idea that he's going to wait for Bronny's rookie year and join that roster isn't as simple as it always sounded. There's more to that equation.

Bronny might not be good enough to warrant rookie minutes. What if we learn in a year that he clearly isn't ready, or he winds up on a rebuilding lottery team? Would it be worth it to LeBron to play for a non-playoff team while his son rides the bench or winds up in the G League?

Despite rising further up recruiting rankings, Bronny still has a lot to prove at USC before teams start thinking first-round lock and immediate contributor. Will a team even want to deal with the media attention and pressure that comes with adding a 40-year-old James and his son?

LeBron presumably will take it year by year, or even month by month to make decisions. But there's no way he's suddenly done with the NBA after losing four straight to the Denver Nuggets.

Verdict: Sell

—Jonathan Wasserman

Just a few weeks ago, LeBron James praised Bronny James for choosing to play at USC, reaffirming that he intended to play with his son in the NBA. Now, off a painful four-game sweep by the Denver Nuggets, has James completely changed direction? Was he talking out of emotion, trying to leverage the Los Angeles Lakers into a specific direction (Kyrie Irving?), or is he legitimately considering retirement?

Given how fresh the wounds were on Monday after losing in the Western Conference Finals, James was most likely caught in a difficult moment after a long season playing through multiple injuries. At least, that should be the working assumption until he doubles down on the notion of retirement.

While James already has considerable wealth, walking away from his two remaining years at $97.6 million seems extreme. The Lakers made considerable strides forward after the failed Russell Westbrook experiment.

James won't play forever; perhaps this was the first moment that reality hit the world. But give him time to clear his head, rest his body and look to the future. His son is on track to join him in the league in 2024, and the most likely path feels like James will stick around a little longer to help Bronny James transition to the NBA.

Verdict: Sell

—Eric Pincus

I'm selling most of my stock on the idea of LeBron James retiring this offseason (and I'll explain why I'm holding on to a bit later).

Generally speaking, I'm inclined to believe the angle laid out by The Lakers Lounge's Anthony Irwin.

"LeBron does nothing without considering its implications," Irwin tweeted. "This felt like a pretty clear message sent to go get him more help."

Whether that means Kyrie Irving or some other star, you can bet L.A. will take LeBron's message (assuming it is one) seriously and explore all available options this summer.

LeBron is still a top 10-15 player in the NBA. And he's likely still the biggest draw the league has from a marketing standpoint. The Lakers don't want to lose that.

NBA Twitter personality Rob Perez (you probably know him as Worldwide Wob) floated one retirement ceremony that might actually make some sense, though.

If there's anyone you could trust to stay in peak shape during a gap year, it's probably LeBron. And this would give him a potentially easier path to joining his son whenever he enters the NBA.

Regardless of what happens this summer, I'm doubtful we've seen LeBron's last game in the league.

Verdict: Sell

—Andy Bailey

LeBron James isn't retiring. Not this offseason.

In addition to the 97 million reasons to return the next two years, James still clearly has a lot left in the tank. His hops are declining and injuries have been adding up the past few seasons, but James was still the only player in the NBA to put up at least 28 points, eight rebounds, six assists and shoot 50.0 percent or better this year.

After reaching the Western Conference Finals, the Lakers should once again be one of the top teams in the NBA, with James, Anthony Davis and Austin Reaves (restricted free agent) all under team control. Los Angeles also has the option to retain some of its role players (Rui Hachimura, Jarred Vanderbilt, Malik Beasley, Mo Bamba) or chase a star free agent by opening up roughly $30 million in cap space.

Winning a fifth title for James is still very much a possibility, putting him just a single championship behind Michael Jordan. Should James make the All-Star team next season, he would pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most all-time (20).

All of this could pale in comparison to the opportunity to join Bronny, who becomes draft eligible next summer after his freshman season at USC. James has spoken passionately about playing with his oldest son in the past, so calling it a career so close to Bronny potentially entering the NBA seems like something he would regret.

Whether he wants one or not, James also deserves a farewell tour a la Kobe Bryant in 2015-16. He's done so much for the game and is arguably its greatest talent of all-time.

Walking away now, without giving anyone any notice before his final game, would be a mistake.

Verdict: Sell

—Greg Swartz