clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

LeBron James calls out NBA for not listening to him about rushing the season

The NBA’s decision to give its players a historically short offseason still doesn’t sit right with LeBron James.

If you buy something from an SB Nation link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

Phoenix Suns v Los Angeles Lakers - Game Six Photo by Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images

The 2020-21 NBA regular season was plagued by injuries to its biggest stars and the postseason hasn’t been any different thus far.

On Wednesday, Shams Charania of The Athletic reported that LA Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard suffered an ACL injury in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals on Monday and will likely miss the remainder of the series. If Leonard doesn’t play in Game 5, as is expected, he’ll become the eighth different All-Star to miss a playoff game this postseason, which is an NBA record, according to Elias Sports (h/t Malika Andrews of ESPN).

A few of those injuries have been a result of players landing awkwardly, but a good deal of them have been non-contact soft-tissue injuries, which there have been more of this season than any other season in NBA history. That could be a coincidence, but the general belief by health officials is that the league’s insistence on starting the season as soon as possible has led to this spike in injuries.

Naturally, the NBA has taken a good amount of criticism for their decision, and among their critics has been Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James. James wasn’t one of the NBA’s stars to miss time with a soft-tissue injury — he suffered his injury as a result of Atlanta Hawks forward Solomon Hill diving onto his ankle — but he’s empathized with the players that did, including his teammate Anthony Davis, throughout the season.

When news of Leonard’s injury broke on Wednesday, James took to Twitter to once again express his displeasure with how the NBA went about restarting the season:

James’ critics have repeatedly pointed out that the NBPA agreed to start the season in December, but he didn’t seem interested in engaging in that debate on Wednesday:

Is it just a tad bit strange for James to be taking a victory lap about being right about all of the injuries that this condensed season would lead to? Sure, but his messaging has been pretty consistent from the start of the season. Remember: this is the same guy that joked that he would cherry-pick for the first few months of the season.

Obviously there’s nothing that James or the NBA can do now, but it’s definitely something the league can learn from and hopefully avoid in the future.

For more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts. You can follow this author on Twitter at @RadRivas.

Sign up for the newsletter Sign up for the Silver Screen & Roll Daily Roundup newsletter!

A daily roundup of Los Angeles Lakers news from Silver Screen & Roll