JR SportBrief Hour 4

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40% off selected products at Blinds.com. Rules and restrictions may apply. You're listening to the J.R. Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the J.R. Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. It is the J.R. Sport Brief show on CBS Sports Radio. It was a busy day Monday.

It has certainly been a busy Monday night. Carmelo Anthony announces his retirement. Tom Brady gets a piece of the Raiders. Still needs to be approved. By the way, the Panthers are up 3-0 in the Stanley Cup Finals here in the East.

How about that? And then we know the Los Angeles Lakers just eliminated. This season is done. Denver beats them 113 to 111 LeBron James. And you could see just the just the just all the energy getting sucked out of the building and LeBron. He had to put up 31 points in the first half. He finished with 40 and it still wasn't enough. LeBron James, 40 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists and a loss.

A tale of two halves here. Nikola Jokic, another triple double. What else is new? 30 points, 14 rebounds, 13 assists.

It's just the world that we live in. Nikola Jokic, the Denver Nuggets. They go to their first NBA Finals in franchise history. First. LeBron James goes home.

He got a lot to think about. Mike Malone, maybe his team finally gets its respect. Jamal Murray pours in 25. Let me walk you through this game quickly.

Shout outs to our super producer and host Dave Shepherd. LeBron goes off. In the first half of the game. The Lakers lead at halftime, 73 to 58.

I told you LeBron had 31 points. We move into the third quarter. The Denver Nuggets outscore the Lakers, 36 to 16.

Going into the fourth quarter here in the second half even. The Los Angeles Lakers at one point, they miss eight consecutive threes. The Denver Nuggets are feeling real confident about what's going on. At one point, they're running away from the Lakers. They lead by seven. But the Lakers stay close. They get back into the game. And then Nikola Jokic decides, OK, this is done.

It's over. Nikola Jokic at one point in the fourth quarter gets the basketball right inside the three point line. Anthony Davis is on him like a cheap suit.

I know you've heard that cliche before. He's on the man like a cheap suit. Jokic puts a shoulder in him. He spins out away from the basket outside of the three point line. Jokic decides to take a step back, fade away one legged three over Anthony Davis.

Who we all know has go go gadget arms. Anthony Davis is in this guy's grill. And Jokic just shoots over him and puts it in.

Take a listen to this. Extends the lead to six and crunch time. This is from the Nuggets radio network. Jokic picked up by Davis. Takes a tough three. Got it right at the hard.

Oh, man. That when you if you have not seen the shot yet, when you see it, you can't do anything but just go, well, damn. Jokic continued on. The Lakers were able to even tie the game back at at 111. And Jokic, he said, no, there's there's no tie here. I'm going to make sure we get the lead.

Take a listen to this. Here we go. KCP gets it in to Nicole Jokic. Start up by Davis. He puts it on the floor, gets the elbow down the lane. And at that point, that was the final point scored of the night, really 113 to 111. The Nuggets then led the Los Angeles Lakers is now four seconds left on the clock coming out of a time out. LeBron James gets the ball. Right in front of the three point line, LeBron James able to drive being defended by Aaron Gordon.

He is met by Jamal Murray and Gordon. There is no foul called. And that's all she wrote. The game was over. LeBron looked for the foul.

But no, he can rewatch that a million times. This is the final call from the Nuggets radio network. Four seconds left. Two points ties it up. LeBron in the paint layup. No good.

Got his own board. There's the hard. And the Denver Nuggets for the first time in franchise history will go to the NBA Finals. You can hear the fans in the back understanding that, A, the game and the season is done. But then upon initially the final buzzer going off, you hear people kind of like, oh, my God, there's no foul.

There's no foul. Jamal Murray was asked about that during his press conference a few minutes ago last hour. And this is Jamal Murray explaining that final play of the game. I was guarding Ruri. He set a screen for Bron.

A.G. chased him. And I just kind of had to be there knowing the help would be behind me. And then I kind of caught his drive at the end. I could get the ball and I just put two hands on it.

And then I'm going to get off a good shot. Yeah, I'm not I'm not going to kick and scream about the no foul. And if they did call a foul, I wouldn't I wouldn't be upset at that either. It's one of those calls where, hey, look, it's the end of the game.

It's a huge game. Let's not just gift LeBron James with with a foul call. And so the Denver Nuggets go on to their first NBA Finals. I guess after all this time, Mike Malone, does he feel his team is getting the respect that they deserve? Well, Mike Malone spoke.

Listen to the head coach. This is from his press conference not too long ago. I think it starts with a belief, you know, in themselves. But probably more importantly, in the collective, you know, the man next to them. And to beat this team in the Western Conference finals and to get the first sweep in franchise history, to get the first Western Conference championship in franchise history, it means a lot. But I speak for 17 players in the locker room and the entire organization.

We were not satisfied. They want to win the championship. Well, the man who wants and needs that championship to help validate his legacy because you need the ring, especially off of two MVPs, Nikolay Jokic just spoke. And he talked about he was greeted by his family after the game.

His brothers were there. He won the Magic Johnson MVP award for the West Finals. This is what Jokic had to say about the experience. Like, you're happy that you won the game. You beat a really, really good team.

You think about, except the first game, every game was so close and every team could have won it. And we just find a way to win the game, especially we were down 15 to come back and win the game. You know, it was just probably happiness. You know, I think that's the emotions. Yeah, just happiness. That's the emotions. Just happiness. His teammates loved him after the game.

They mobbed him. Let's see if he can walk away with a championship. Game one of the NBA Finals. You got to wait nine days, the Denver Nuggets do.

It'll be next Thursday, June 1st. One thing that Jokic did do on the way out the door, he showed some respect to LeBron James. This is what Jokic had to say on ESPN after the game. We had an amazing game. We couldn't stop him in the first half.

We found a way to make him take a little bit tougher shots, but he's still one of the best that ever played this game. Without a shadow of a doubt, 8-5-5, 2-1-2 for CBS. That's 8-5-5, 2-1-2 for CBS. We'll hear from LeBron momentarily. LeBron already making comments about just his basketball future. I think he ain't going anywhere.

I'd be shocked. 8-5-5, 2-1-2 for CBS. Carl is calling from Atlanta. You're on the JR Sport Brief Show. Hello JR. How you doing, buddy? Very well. Go ahead, Carl.

I'm going to try to make it as short as I can. I agree with you so much. I think so many people are calling you tonight about emotional over one game and trying to beat down LeBron. I'm not here to stand up for LeBron.

I'm trying to give you some facts. LeBron scored 40 points tonight. He almost aged 39. Tell me who else has been that big of a guy at this age, at this time, at this point, at this level?

Denver, Denver I want to give credit to. The Joker. The Joker. I mean, the Joker was 30 points. I got an amount. Fourteen rebounds.

Thirteen to six. Forty-five percent field goals. He played 45 minutes. I mean, that is extraordinary.

Nobody is saying anything about that. But man, the Joker should have been MVP in my opinion. Because the Joker played pretty much the whole season. And the guy from Philadelphia had a great season. Had him on the bat. But he missed several games. To me, to be the MVP, you have to play most of your games. Towards the end of the season, Jokic and they called it a calf. Jokic pretty much maxed out at 69. And Embiid wasn't too far away from him. So, I mean, I understand what you're saying. But I think that conversation is pretty much done.

I think the hardware that he's going for right now is going to be a championship. And I think that will carry more weight. Jokic only played three more games here than Embiid did. Sixty-nine to sixty-six. So not a huge discrepancy.

Okay, I get that. But my point is that, maybe I had called you about LeBron James. LeBron James at this age scored 40 points. And Hachimaro, Shuler 13.

Yeah, I think 17. But I'm just saying that the Joker and his team is more of a balanced team because the Joker know how to... I mean, look, I'm a Laker fan. They are a better team.

I want to put a bow on everything that you're saying. I agree with you. They are a better team without a shadow of a doubt. The Denver Nuggets have just been pretty consistent all throughout the course of the year. And what we've seen from the Los Angeles Lakers, this is version two of this team.

I mean, early on, and thank you so much, Carl, for calling from Atlanta. Early on, let's remember, Russell Westbrook was on this team. We had to go through the whole Westbrook and we went through all of that. LeBron James missed time and then he got Hachimaro in and Austin Reeves has shown why he deserves a big check and big money.

It's this season. Let's also remember LeBron James became the NBA's all-time leading scorer. That took a lot of focus in here for the Los Angeles Lakers. I don't think there was any point here where there was an expectation where you just said, Oh my God, the Lakers are going to go to the NBA Finals. It started to develop that way more recently over the past several months, but this was no foregone conclusion that this was going to be a championship contending team at the beginning of the year.

Not at all. A matter of fact, when LeBron James spoke after the game, he was asked to take a look at this entire season and he was, he's real blunt about it. Listen. LeBron, how do you, on an individual level, reflect on your season, your 38, your 20? I really don't. I never, it's not who I am. I guess I reflected my career when I'm done, but I don't know. I'll let you guys talk about it. One thing that I only concern myself with is being available to my teammates and I don't like the fact that I didn't play as many games as I would like because of injury.

That's the only thing I care about is being available to my teammates. 855-212-4CBS. It's 855-212-4CBS. Tommy's calling from New Orleans. You're on the JR Sport Brief Show. JR, happy Monday to you and Shep and all those people out in radio land, man. How's everybody doing? Everybody's good, I hope.

Yes, thank you. What's up? Not much. I'm calling to give LeBron some love, dude. I'm an MJ guy all the way, but one and one A to me. But to me, the effort that Mr. James put out tonight was comparable to maybe a Kellen Winslow.

I don't know. He looked like he gave everything he had for his team and it just didn't work out, so that's about it. But I said in a call previously that Anthony Davis was going to be the reason the Lakers didn't win.

And you asked me, well, if the Lakers win, are you going to call and say, you know, I'm sorry? Obviously they didn't win, but in my opinion, JR, in your opinion, was Anthony Davis the reason they lost or not? No, no.

The reason that they lost. I'm not going to say yes. I was wrong. Can I answer? Yes.

Sheesh. No, I don't think Anthony Davis is the reason that they lost. Was he ridiculously consistent?

No, but I think there are larger reasons. A, you can look at the depth of the Lakers. You can look at his inconsistency as one reason. I look at someone like D'Angelo Russell who did not show up at all.

You look at the inexperience of Darvin Ham and I think those are all factors. But one thing I would not do is to go ahead and just say Anthony Davis is the reason why the Los Angeles Lakers lost. That would be false. I agree with you and what I did state was that.

He would be the reason. So I was wrong, so I'm calling to eat a little crumb. So I was wrong with this. That's fine.

But I still got the 20 on Miami, dude. I'm telling you. Rock and roll. Thank you, Tommy, for calling from New Orleans. 855-212-4CBS. Chris is calling from Cali. Go ahead, Chris. JR, how are you doing tonight? You've got a great program and some of your callers are just off the hook with the knowledge. It just blows me away.

That's a good thing when people call and say actually good things. Go ahead. Yeah. Hey, I want to tell you about a bet that I lost in this Laker Denver series. You warned me about the series, too.

I didn't listen. But as far as this goat discretion, I am so tired of these clowns on national TV all day with their all time top 10 list. OK, I got seven guys.

If we got to go to actually pointed out so many times over the years, it's easier as their goats. But if you want to be a clown like these guys on TV, here's the seven guys that I've identified for the top five slots. OK, so it's the world Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Russell. The three big goats.

I mean, come on. And after that, we're going LeBron and Michael Jordan. There's five guys right there in the NBA is not the NBA without Magic and Bird. So those are my seven that I've identified. I don't know how you feel about that. Listen, I ain't going to argue with you because then I'd be one of them idiots that argue about it. I'll tell you this. I'm more amused at how you told me you got seven guys for five spots, but I'm with it. I appreciate that. Yes. Anyway, the gambling issue.

You know, I gave up gambling a couple of years ago, but I guess I didn't learn my lesson. My five year old granddaughter, Claire, and I, we've been separated for a little while, but we've been talking on the phone. OK. And she's a huge Joker fan.

You know, I showed her the Joker package a couple of months ago, the career highlights, and she was like blown away. She was basketball. And I'm a LeBron guy. I love LeBron James. She's my guys.

His kids are San Fernando Valley athletes. That's my area. So anyway, we've got a dollar on each game. And not only did you know, she swept me, obviously.

So you can go four bucks right now. She put the big move on me before tonight's game on the phone. Five minutes. She goes, Hey, grandpa, I'm going to give you a shot.

Double or nothing on day four. Well, damn it. How old is your granddaughter? She's five. Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa.

You watch them habits. OK, Chris. I mean, she's putting these moves on me.

And I mean, this is the kind of thing I was doing when I was like 12 or 13, you know. OK, I'm down three bucks. I'll go double or nothing on day four.

She turned four into six. Oh, my gosh. Man, I'm definitely not gambling anymore, J.R.

I'm out, bro. Great show. Great show. Yeah.

Be careful with that. Thank you, Chris, for calling from California. I appreciate you. It's the J.R. Sport Brief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio eight five five two one two four CBS.

That's eight five five two one two four CBS. The Nuggets do their job. We really just have to wait and see. Are the Celtics going to be cooked tomorrow? They need to get this over.

They quit already. Ironically, also Kyrie Irving. Kyrie Irving was in crypto dot com arena tonight. He had floor seats. He watched the game.

And, you know, Kyrie was just probably visualizing, man, this is where I want to be next year. It's the J.R. Sport Brief Show. CBS Sports Radio. I'm going to get some more your calls on the other side. It's been a busy day.

We're going to have to get into a lot of these things throughout the course of the week. We talked about Ben Roethlisberger and Kenny Pickett. I told you about the Carolina Panthers going up 3-0 against the Canes.

They're making their way straight to the Stanley Cup finals. Ben Roethlisberger and Brady. It's just a lot. But your calls on the other side here on CBS Sports Radio.

Don't move. You're listening to the J.R. Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. Hey, J.R., thanks for taking my call. You have a great show.

I listen to you on my midnight shift every night. Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. Here we go. Chris Haynes. Minutes after I started this hour, LeBron James is unsure if he'll be with the team when the 2023-24 season starts in the fall and retirement is under consideration. League sources tell Chris Haynes. Wow.

Now, what do I know? I still don't think LeBron James is going to exit. I think it's a matter of what just took place and the amount of work that he had to put in for it to take place. LeBron James still under contract here with the Los Angeles Lakers. Two years, $100 million left on his deal. Final year is a player option, but let's be honest, LeBron James does not need the money. We're talking about someone who is a billionaire already.

In his playing career, he is already a billionaire. And so LeBron James uncertain if he's going to be with the team in the start. I mean, well, damn. We've heard a lot. I don't know.

I think you get away, you think about things. Is this the way LeBron is going to want to go out? We've heard him so many times talk about playing with his son. His son is one season away. Does LeBron want to tack on? Definitely, you know, two more to do that.

It just seems seems kind of hollow right now. And LeBron James, he did talk about this a little bit. He mentioned that he has to think about this basketball future. He did say that.

We'll play that for you next break. But before that, LeBron James, he made it clear why he's frustrated after a game like tonight. Obviously frustrated. Not being able to, you know, close out one of these games where you were in every game. You know, two games in Denver, two games here. We were hitting every game. We were winning, you know, about 15 and a half. And, you know, they hit us with a 36-point quarter, you know, took momentum of the game. We still have an opportunity and just can make plays down the stretch.

So that's the frustrating part. But, you know, you tip your hat to him. Like I said, it's a great team. And LeBron James had to, what a way to go out.

It still sounds odd to even say this. What a way to potentially go out. 48 minutes. All 48 minutes of the game. 40 points, 10 rebounds, 9 assists, 2 steals. LeBron was 4 of 7 from downtown. He was 15 of 25 from deep.

Unfortunately, 31 points came in the first half, 9 points came in the second as the Denver Nuggets went on that huge run. And LeBron James going into a game, elimination, knowing he's going to have to do it all. He talked about his mindset, how he gets set up for such. For me, it's just, you know, just a mindset, you know, and training the mind, you know, if you train the mind, your body will fall where it may and, you know, take care of the rest. So, you know, knowing coming into a game where I may have to play a full game, that's just my mindset. And, you know, I wasn't able to come through, lost me and get the win. That was just my mindset going into the night.

Dan. LeBron, throughout the year, we've talked a bunch of times just about how long this season was. I think I've seen you yawn more than I've seen anybody yawn through the course of a season. But how did this group energize you as it got into the postseason and as you got a chance to get, you know, one level away from the finals? I think it energized me from the moment that I was out for those four weeks and just seeing, you know, the type of team that we had, the type of energy that we brought into the locker room, the type of energy we brought into the floor. You know, and I just couldn't wait to join these guys with action and get on the floor. And, you know, I knew how much I could make an impact with the group of guys. But it was always an exciting moment when we was able just to bring those guys into the locker room. You know, and, you know, we were just a better team right away.

And it resulted in us getting to the Michigan Conference Finals. Laker's season is done here. And now you even got this report from Chris Haynes of TNT and Bleacher Report that LeBron James is considering retirement.

Wild, wild, wild, wild, wild, wild. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. I'm going to take some of your calls on the other side. I want you to hear from LeBron James and what he had to say about basketball and moving forward. We're going to talk to super producer and host Dave Shepherd. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. Music. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. Hey, y'all, what's going on, big brother? Truck driver, man. I've been listening to you for a few months now. I respect what you do.

Like it, man. Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here on CBS Sports Radio. We started off Monday with the official announcement from Carmelo Anthony that he would be retiring. We went throughout the course of the day knowing that LeBron James was the last active player from that 2003 draft, now that Carmelo quit or gave up, retired. And now tonight, after the Denver Nuggets beat the Lakers 113-111, after LeBron James puts up 40 points, plays all 48 minutes in the loss, Chris Haynes from Bleacher Report reports that LeBron James is considering retirement.

And it's not just a rumor or a report. LeBron James, in his own press conference, you know, had this message to share about his future. Take a listen to this. We'll see what happens going forward. I don't know.

I don't know. I got a lot to think about, to be honest. I got a lot to think about, to be honest. And just for me personally, going forward with the game of basketball, I got a lot to think about. Yeah, I'd be shocked if he calls it quits. After this tonight, knowing that the Lakers can improve moving forward, he's talked about playing with his son. His son is going to be playing at USC. He has two years, $100 million left on his contract here with the Los Angeles Lakers.

It's not that the money matters to LeBron James. He and his entire bloodline is set in perpetuity. I find it tough. 855-212-4CBS.

It's 855-212-4CBS. Hey, Shep, you had a thought, comment, or question. Go ahead. Well, yeah, I mean, JR, very quickly, I know we have a lot of calls. So my thinking is there's no way Chris Haynes puts this out there without the permission of LeBron James. Because he's not woge in a sense that he doesn't get a lot of his information from executives.

It's more actually from the horse's mouth themselves, the players. So what is LeBron James trying to angle here by putting this out? Because like you and I said, he's still a top 10 basketball player on planet earth, and he just got swept. So he's not walking away after this.

So why would he want this to be out there now? Well, I think it's potentially a pressure. I think it is reality.

I think it's also emotion. So can it all be reality yet? He don't need to play. But I find it very difficult to think that we'll never see him in a uniform. Is he trying to make it clear to the Los Angeles Lakers that you guys have to improve the roster for next year?

That's a possibility. I just, I find it very difficult to think that. The final image of LeBron James is of him just, after everything he said over the course of his career, what he has said over the past five and ten years about his legacy and what he's looking to do and what he wants to do, that, you know, he gets swept and just disappears. I just, well not disappears, but finishes basketball.

I don't, I don't see that. 855-212-4CBS, that's 855-212-4CBS. Lucky is calling from San Francisco. You're on the JR Sport Brief Show. Hey, my main man, how you doing tonight? I'm good. Go ahead, Lucky. Well, you know, I was telling you, man, I was in my car on my lunch break, man, doing a walk, man, because LeBron got swept, you know, especially after what happened with the Warriors series. So, I'm ecstatic and I'm one of the best.

So, you know, thank you, LeBron. Okay. Anything else? Is that it, Lucky? That's it, man.

That's it, man. I mean, you know, congratulations to Denver and hopefully Miami. You know, I either want to see Jokic or either Jimmy. Me, myself, personally, I like Jimmy's game, so I would rather see Jimmy get his first ring than, you know, maybe Nicole can get back and, you know, fight against us for next year.

Okay. Well, thank you, Lucky, for calling from San Fran. We'll see what takes place. The finals will get going next Thursday. I think we all pretty much know the Celtics are going to, they ain't going to be there.

I'd be shocked if they are. Mark is calling from Arizona. You're on the JR Sport Brief Show. Go ahead, Mark. Hey there, JR. It's a pleasure and it's my first time. Well, thank you.

What's up? Well, I want you to know, and you, Denver's amazing. I got goosebumps. I watched the game and I watched that play.

They deserve to be there. Mike Malone's a good coach. I remember when he was with, I'm still up in awe of that shot.

I got goosebumps even after all this time. And sitting here listening to you folks and all the callers going like, wow, LeBron did everything he could. It meant some. But the Denver Nuggets are just, they're well balanced. They're evenly, they're, they're, they're better team. Yeah. And they complement each other.

That's the thing. They're a better team without a shadow of a doubt. This is a Los Angeles Lakers team, as I mentioned.

Thank you, Mark, for calling from Arizona. This isn't the team that the Lakers started with. This is a team that LeBron James was out with a foot and saw them perform and try to rush back. And they kind of turned things on here at the end of the year after the acquisitions and getting healthy. You going to bet on that for next year?

Speaking of healthy. 855-212-4CBS. Dan is calling from Fairfax. You're on the JR Sport Brief Show. Hey, how are you doing, man?

Very good. I don't want to be like a negative of LeBron, but I mean, he's been talking about playing with his son for years. I mean, I kind of feel like he's hinting it out there not to be a jerk. But he's trying to take away that he got swept. And, you know, that was going to change from LeBron got swept. Jordan never got swept to LeBron might retire. LeBron might retire.

I mean, it might be a punk move what I'm saying, but I just feel like he's traumatic. He's putting this out there and the narrative is going to stop being about how they got swept. Oh, my gosh, LeBron's retiring. He's going to play with his son. He did not set this all up to not try to play with his son.

But I couldn't be a negative. We we we don't know and there's no way in hell to know what you just said and proposed. And I think I know I think after a loss. I don't know if you if if you sit around after everything you've done after you hurt and you feel like garbage and crap and you played 48 minutes and you still lost your you're almost 40 years old. I don't think he goes, man, you know how I could make people forget that I just got swept.

I could tell everybody that I might quit. That'll make him forget. You're right. Like he gets he gets picked apart more than anybody who's had his success. We talked about Carmelo Anthony's retirement earlier on in the show. And I looked and I said, if anybody actually looks at the full breadth of Carmelo Anthony as a basketball player, what he accomplished, I would say ninety nine point nine percent of any human who ever picked up a ball with professional aspirations, would look at Carmelo's career and go, oh, I want what that guy had because all you didn't do is win an MVP in a ring. You know what I'm saying? And so for LeBron, what does it matter at this point?

He could cure cancer and people would still find something wrong with his career in comparison to like Michael Jordan or something. You know, you're right. I can say I'm not biased a little bit.

And he killed the Wizards like three years in a row. OK, not give this out of there. So I have a little, you know, it's a blame. Blame. Blame. Blame Gilbert Arenas.

OK. Yeah, I know that when you have a good nightmare. Thank you, Dan. He's like, let's find her. Let's find a reason to, you know, get on LeBron. Well, he brought up retirement. So people forget about his sweep. Like, that's a part of it.

Like, you can't ignore that. I mean, somebody else called up earlier on in the show. It's just like, oh, LeBron didn't want to be a good sport and left the court early. Where? What game were you watching? Tonight's game? Davis calling from Georgia. You're on the JR Sport Brief Show.

What's up, Dave? Hey, JR. Watch the game tonight. Watched all four games of the series. LeBron, I'm a little bit worried. He's been a great player.

He's got a great legacy. The problem is you mentioned Carmelo. Carmelo stayed a year or two too long. And that's what affected. Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Dave, that's that's not that's not accurate. There was there was nothing, nothing zip zero zilch about Carmelo sticking around too long. Carmelo Anthony, if he wasn't so big of a name and personality and at the end of his career.

Yes, this was more this was more towards it. His lack of defense as he got older. It became difficult to have him. But Carmelo Anthony could have been in the NBA this year. And he could have come off of a bench and he could have said his 15 points. And so, well, I don't go for a Carmelo stuck around too long.

And hold on. But to even bring that up about LeBron. Forty points tonight, man. What are we talking about? But nothing in the fourth quarter.

When the game was on the line. That's the problem. Oh, my God. Dave, I got to I got to put you on hold for a second. OK, sure.

OK. He's almost 40 years old. Like, how many people are you expecting just to wake up and continue on at that pace? Devin Booker, who's about 15 years younger than him. I mean, well, not 15. I'm exaggerating about a decade, 12, 11 years.

But I mean, come on. He gets to the end of the game and you're just, well, he had 31 at the beginning. He only had nine at the end. He's almost 40 years old this past season outside of his foot.

And yes, he's getting older when he's still twenty five, nine and nine. So, I mean, yeah, let's let's let's relax, Dave. Do you understand? Yeah, I'm with you.

I'm with you to point. And the point is, I just have this image of Karl Malone his last couple of years. And I feel like, you know, LeBron's got a great legacy. He's got a great career.

And I really worry about this thing, trying to play with his son a couple of years from now. Dave, I think at the worst case for LeBron, I don't think LeBron James is going to be sitting at the end of the Lakers bench or the Utah Jazz bench trying to, you know, scrape a ring together. And even Karl Malone at the end of his career, he was still serviceable. I don't think LeBron James is going to exit out of the NBA, not at his peak.

And if he does, it's going to be his choice. And even at that, I could see LeBron James at his worst on the way out the door saying, hey, I got you 18, eight and eight. And you know what that still does for LeBron James? That'll still put him in the All-Star game. So I don't think he's flaming out. I don't think he's washing out. I think this past season he maxed out. And you look at the talent and who he played with throughout the course of the year.

I'm not I'm not mad at him at all. Like you gotta, gotta, gotta give LeBron James a break. He ain't quit. He played. He came back from a foot injury.

He played in the last game of the season. You want Anthony Davis to go out there and bust ass? LeBron said, I got this. He needs help. And so now we end tonight with LeBron James thinking about his future.

I want you to hear this one more time. LeBron James asked about his future. We'll see what happens going forward. But I don't know.

I don't know. I got a lot to think about, to be honest. I got a lot to think about, to be honest. And just for me personally, going forward with the game of basketball, I got a lot to think about. And now it's been reported by Chris Haynes of TNT that LeBron James is considering retirement. Is that going to be the case? Is that emotions after the game?

Very well might be. I'd be shocked, shocked if tonight was the last time we saw LeBron James put on anybody's uniform. Start the season with the Lakers, whatever the case might be. I'd be shocked if he's not back in the NBA.

You've been listening to the J.R. sport show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. We'll be back tomorrow, 10 p.m. Eastern, 7 Pacific. Let's see if the heat can eliminate those Celtics. The Celtics deserve to go home.

Thank you so much to Shep and everybody listening. I'm done on CBS Sports Radio. The J.R. sport show is out.

Amy Lawrence coming up next. They get delivery within a week. No waiting around or sold out nonsense. Get some rest.

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