LeBron James has made claims of playing Games 2-4 of this year's NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors with a "broken hand."

The Cleveland Cavaliers superstar was unable to lead his side past the reigning NBA champions and suffered a disheartening sweep against Steve Kerr's men. But things could have been very different had J.R Smith done the sensible thing and scored a layup instead of running away with the ball after grabbing an important rebound off George Hill's missed free throw nearing the end of regulation in Game 1.

With the scores tied, Smith was somehow under the impression that his team was ahead and opted to run away with possession instead of attempting what would have been an easy, close-range bucket.

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And after Friday's Game 4, LeBron admitted having suffered a bad, self-inflicted hand injury in the wake of the first loss.

Sources told ESPN that the player punched a whiteboard in anger and ended up hurting himself. The overturned offensive foul against Kevin Durant with under a minute to go was also a source of frustration for the 14-time All-Star.

"What happened, self-inflicted," he said during the post-match presser following Friday's defeat when asked about his hand and the brace he was wearing. "Post-game after Game 1, very emotional.

"For a lot of different reasons, understanding how important a game is on the road for our ball club, what [winning it] would have done for us. The way we played, the calls that were made throughout the course of that game, and I had emotions that the game was taken away from us.

"I had emotions that you just don't get an opportunity like this on the road against Golden State to be able to get a Game 1. I let the emotions get the best of me and pretty much played the last three games with a broken hand."

James will head into the summer considering his future and is expected to leave Cleveland ahead of next season. Reports claim that a return to the Miami Heat could be on the cards, while the Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Lakers are understood to be potential destinations.