LeBron James did not look like himself in the NBA Playoffs and while he was able to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to the Western Conference Finals, they ended up getting swept by the Denver Nuggets.

Following their postseason exit, it was revealed that James had been playing through a torn tendon injury in his foot that occurred on February 26 when the Lakers were on the road playing against the Dallas Mavericks. The 19-time All-Star missed about a month before returning to the floor ahead of the playoffs.

Despite notions that he could look to retire this offseason, the question for LeBron now becomes whether or not he will have surgery to repair the tendon in his foot.

According to The Athletic's Shams Charania, James is set to undergo further evaluations and if he elects to have surgery, he could be sidelined for two months during the offseason. However, if he does in fact have foot surgery to address his tendon injury, the Lakers' superstar would be expected to return by the start of training camp in September.

After losing in the Western Conference Finals, James spoke to ESPN about the possibility of surgery and what the next steps to recovery were.

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“I'm going to get an MRI on it and see how the tendon either healed or not healed and go from there,” James told ESPN's Dave McMenamin. “We'll see what happens.”

Now through 20 seasons in the NBA, James' resume speaks for itself. If he is ready to retire, he will forever go down as one of the greatest basketball players of all time, but LeBron actually retiring at 38-years-old and before his son enters the league is hard for many to imagine.

Playing in 55 regular season games this year, James averaged 28.9 points, 8.3 rebounds and 6.8 assists per game while shooting 5o.0 percent from the floor. He earned All-NBA honors for the 19th time in his career, the most out of any player in league history.

While he is nearing the conclusion of his career, James returning for his 21st NBA season is something many around the league are expecting to happen. The Lakers surely want him back and even though he could have offseason foot surgery, LeBron James should be ready to go for the start of the 2023-24 season.