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Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James announced that he won't attend the Met Gala in New York City Monday (May 5) night due to an injury he sustained at the end of the 2024-25 NBA season.
James, 40, confirmed that his wife, Savannah, would be attending in his absence in a post shared on his X account hours before the event.
"Unfortunately because of my knee injury I sustained at the end of the season I won’t be able to attend the Met Gala in NY tonight as so many people have been asking and congratulating me on! Hate to miss an historical event! My beautiful powerful Queen will be there holding the castle down as she always has done!" James wrote.
James was undecided on his NBA future after his team was eliminated by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first-round of the Western Conference Playoffs last week.
"I don't know," James said when asked how long he planned to continue playing via ESPN. "I don't have an answer to that. Something I'll sit down with my family, my wife and my support group and kind of just talk through it and see what happens. And just have a conversation with myself on how long I want to continue to play.
"I don't know the answer to that right now, to be honest. So we'll see."
James took a similar approach entering last offseason before ultimately deciding to return for his 22nd season. The four-time NBA Finals MVP has a player option to return to the Lakers for the 2025-26 season, which is worth $52.6 million, but would need to opt in prior to the June 29 or become a free agent.
"It's a business," James said when asked how the Lakers could improve for next season after being eliminated in five games. "So you don't know what the roster will look like next year besides the guys that [are] locked into contracts. S---, I got a lot to think about myself. So I don't know what the roster will look like. I don't know where I stand right now."
James then clarified that he was referring to his contract, not teasing the idea of playing for another team.
"Just continuing to play, I don't know where I'm at," James said via ESPN. "That's what that is. Not coming back to play here. Just playing, period."
The Akron native averaged 24.4 points, 8.2 assists and 7.8 assists during his 22nd season. James is the NBA's all-time leading scorer and a four-time NBA regular season MVP.