LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers were eliminated in the first round of the 2021 NBA Playoffs by the Phoenix Suns. While Phoenix certainly deserves credit for how they played, you cannot go long in explaining what happened in that series without mentioning that Anthony Davis was injured and the Lakers were thoroughly outplayed when he didn’t play.
Davis is one of just several prominent stars to get hurt in or near the NBA Playoffs. LeBron James dealt with a high ankle sprain, both James Harden and Kyrie Irving have missed games for the Brooklyn Nets, Jamal Murray didn’t play in the playoffs at all, Donovan Mitchell has had lingering issues, Mike Conley has missed time, Joel Embiid tore his meniscus and most recently, Kawhi Leonard suffered a knee injury.
Stars are getting hurt at an unprecedented rate and LeBron James blames the league for rushing the start of the 2020-21 season. He sounded off on Twitter on Wednesday to share his displeasure with the situation.
They all didn’t wanna listen to me about the start of the season. I knew exactly what would happen. I only wanted to protect the well being of the players which ultimately is the PRODUCT & BENEFIT of OUR GAME! These injuries isn’t just “PART OF THE GAME”. It’s the lack of PURE
— LeBron James (@KingJames) June 16, 2021
works all year round it’s ME! I speak for the health of all our players and I hate to see this many injuries this time of the year. Sorry fans wish you guys were seeing all your fav guys right now. 🙏🏾👑
— LeBron James (@KingJames) June 16, 2021
LeBron followed the thread by explaining that he understands the business side of the situation as well.
LeBron James is correct to rip the NBA about the reduced offseason.
The way the league handled the start of the 2020-21 season was not fair to the players. Yes, the league had its hands tied and was definitely not dealing with a normal situation. Yes, the league lost money the previous year (and this season) due to attendance loss.
All of that is true but it does not change the fact that the situation could have been handled better. Players were under the expectation that the season would start an entire month before it actually started. Instead of meeting expectations, the league created the shortest offseason in American sports history.
The desire to get as close to an 82-game regular season as possible is certainly warranted but was anyone actually going to question the integrity of the season if it was a 56-game season instead of a 72-game season? Sure, there is going to be the Twitter trolls that call it a Mickey Mouse ring, but is the league going to make a decision based on that?
The health of the players should always be first and foremost. The NBA did a great job of putting the player’s health first during the Orlando bubble, as strenuous as it was, and then completely fumbled the bag on this.
LeBron James is right: this is not a coincidence. This is something that he warned about earlier this season.