After 21 straight years on an All-NBA team, LeBron James’ incredible streak will likely come to an end this season.
The league’s new (definitely not controversial) rules require players to play at least 65 games — as well as some other criteria — to be eligible for regular season awards. As a result, any injury that forces a player to sit out any moderate length effectively rules them out of contention for awards.
For LeBron, that means his sciatica injury has all but sealed that he won’t be eligible
to even make an All-NBA team, regardless of his level of play.
The last time LeBron did not make an NBA team was his rookie season in 2004…when he still finished ninth in MVP voting and was Rookie of the Year. Every season following that, he’s made an All-NBA team.
Officially, LeBron isn’t ineligible, at least not yet. If he returns for Tuesday’s game against the Jazz — he is listed as questionable heading into the contest — then he will have missed 14 games. If he misses that game and returns on Sunday in Utah, it’ll leave him with two more games he can miss.
Counting out LeBron, even at age 41 and in his 23rd season, is a fool’s errand, but expecting him to play in 65 of the final 68 games of the season feels ambitious, to say the least. If anything, most Lakers fans don’t want him to play that often the rest of the regular season.
After seeing how well the Lakers played without him, that should serve as enough motivation to err on the side of caution with LeBron, allowing him to rest during the dog days of the season before gearing up for the playoff push. That would likely mean resting him more than three times for the remainder of the season.
Perhaps LeBron’s production this season takes a step back and he doesn’t even warrant All-NBA selection. But that it may largely be taken out of his hands is a frustrating conclusion…and hopefully impetus for the NBA to change the rules.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on BlueSky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.
