Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James, center, goes up for a dunk as Oklahoma City Thunder guard Luguentz Dort, left, and guard Ajay Mitchell watch during the second half of Game 4 in a second-round NBA basketball playoffs series Monday, May 11, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

LOS ANGELES — If LeBron James wants to keep playing professional basketball, the Los Angeles Lakers want it to be with them.

General manager Rob Pelinka and coach JJ Redick affirmed their desire to keep James in a Lakers uniform one day after his eighth season with the club ended with a heartbreaking 115-110 loss and a second-round sweep at the hands of the powerhouse champion Oklahoma City Thunder.

The 41-year-old James hasn’t decided whether he wants to keep playing. Pelinka also said the Lakers badly want to keep guard Austin Reaves with a big new contract while they build a roster around superstar Luka Doncic.

Kerr returning

SAN FRANCISCO — Steve Kerr has signed his new two-year contract to remain as coach of the Golden State Warriors.

The team made the announcement Tuesday after Kerr reached agreement on a deal last weekend. The Warriors missed the playoffs for the second time in three years, earning the 10th seed in the Western Conference and eventually losing at Phoenix in the play-in tournament last month.

Kerr’s 12-year coaching run with the franchise has included eight playoff appearances and four championships. The last came in 2022.

Clarke dies at 29

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Memphis Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke has died, according to the team, his agency and the NBA.

He was 29. Neither the Grizzlies nor Clarke’s agency, Priority Sports, provided any details about when, where or how Clarke died.

Clarke was arrested April 1 in Arkansas for speeding and possession of a controlled substance and released on bond a day later. He was the 21st overall pick out of Gonzaga in the 2019 NBA draft by Oklahoma City. Clarke was on the NBA’s All-Rookie team in 2020 but injuries limited him to 72 of 246 games the past three seasons.

Elsewhere in the NBA:

– The Philadelphia 76ers fired president Daryl Morey on Tuesday after the team was swept in the Eastern Conference semifinals by the Knicks to end his sixth season in charge. The Sixers went 270-212 record in the regular season under Morey but just 28-26 in the postseason, failing to advance past the second round.

– Jason Collins, the NBA’s first openly gay player who went on to become a pioneer for inclusion and an ambassador for the league, has died after an eight-month battle with an aggressive form of a brain cancer, his family announced Tuesday. Collins spent 13 years as a player in the league for six different franchises. He revealed in 2013 that he was gay, an announcement that came toward the end of his playing career. Collins had been diagnosed with Stage 4 glioblastoma, which has an extremely low survival rate. He was 47.