While Father Time has been unable to stop LeBron James, the NBA rules have found a way to do it.
LeBron James has been ruled out for LA’s upcoming game against the Spurs, meaning he will not reach the 65-game threshold needed to be eligible for NBA awards.
This means that LeBron’s All-NBA streak will
be coming to an end. LeBron holds the NBA record for most All-NBA selections at 21, but he won’t make a 22nd team this season, regardless of his production, due to missing too many games.
It was clear that LeBron’s All-NBA streak was in jeopardy once he missed the first 14 games of the season due to his sciatica injury.
Since that extended absence, LeBron has been relatively healthy. However, given his age and recent injury history, he’s only played both legs of a back-to-back once and with no wiggle room left, it was inevitable that he’d ultimately become ineligible for end-of-season awards due to this restriction.
LeBron is having a season that certainly warrants All-NBA consideration. He is averaging 21.8 points, 5.7 rebounds and 6.9 assists per game.
LeBron’s consecutive All-NBA selections aren’t the only historic achievements from James that ended this season. Earlier in the year, his double-digit scoring streak came to an end dramatically in a win over the Raptors.
The NBA began this 65-game rule for NBA awards began during the 2023-24 season. How fair it is that players who are worthy of such accolades miss it due to injuries has always been a point of contention for fans and media alike.
This season, with superstars like Nikola Jokić set to miss significant time and now LeBron being ineligible, the rule has come under even more scrutiny.
We’ll see if the NBA makes another change in the future, but for this season, James will not be eligible and his potential spot will go to someone who played in enough games, regardless of whether they had a better year than LeBron or not, which is definitely the point of these awards.
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