LeBron James claimed on social media Wednesday that the quick turnaround between last season’s finish at the Orlando “bubble” and this season has contributed to the multitude of injuries to key players, Dave McMenamin of ESPN writes.
In a series of Twitter posts, James said he predicted that the short period between seasons would lead to injury issues.
“Hey 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 RIM REST before starting back up.”
James, teammate Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving, James Harden, Chris Paul, Jamal Murray, Donovan Mitchell, Mike Conley, Jaylen Brown and Joel Embiid are among the star players who either missed time during the postseason or have tried to play through injuries.
“This is the best time of the year for our league and fans but missing a ton of our fav players. It’s insane,” James wrote.
James was critical of the league’s decision, which the Players Associated signed off on, to start the season in late December. He was also unenthused when the league chose to hold an All-Star Game during the pandemic.
NBA spokesman Mike Bass refuted James’ claims about a significant increase in injuries to star players and in general, Marc Stein of the New York Times tweets.
“Injury rates were virtually the same this season as they were during 2019-20 while starter-level and All-Star players missed games due to injury at similar rates as the last three seasons,” said Bass, while adding, “While injuries are an unfortunate reality of our game, we recognize the enormous sacrifices NBA players and teams have made to play through this pandemic.”
Yeah well why didn’t you say it before then? I told you so is only valid if you actually told people so.
I hate lebron, he’s a priveledged loser who loves crying….but he did say this, before the season started, I mean it’s just him crying more cause his career is over but he did say it
I do not understand why players are ignoring that part of being an NBA players is being able to withstand the rigors of playing in the NBA. Seems over time it got twisted and players think just because they are HIGHLY talented basketball players the league should mold around them because they cannot handle the rigors.
Yes I understand star power sells. But I will contend that these pkayers today benefit off the star power of players before them who were uo to the task of handling NBA rigors. Why should it drastically change now with no precedent of it being overwhelming. Injuries have and always will be a part of the game and these complaints about the harshness of the schedule is only about 10-15 yrs old to my knowldge. Lebron, Kawhi, and the rest if you can’t handle the rigors the way your predecesors could maybe you are not cut out to be considered amoung the NBA greats.
You make a good point. Stockton and Malone barely missed any games through nearly 20 years in the league. AC Green played every game for years. Jordan played most games every year.
Here come the excuses.
He’s the greatest drama queen of all time
lemoron!
GOD its going to be so good watching Curry bury this absolute clown’s legacy starting next season. We gotta get Steph 6 rings minimum.
“Whenever anyone suffers misfortune, I find the best response is to tweet that I knew this would happen and no one would listen to me. Because the real story is people not respecting my greatness.” – this egomaniacal psychopath.
Same guy who was the driving force behind getting an owner banned from the league AND the bubble happening, says “no one listens to meeee”. His best friend is literally the President of the NBA. Lebron stopped a strike from happening. What a true fraud. Worst superstar in NBA history.
Ah yes, Curry who has 1 ring without KD and zero finals MVPs is somehow going to win 3 more titles.
Why are you so jealous of Curry? Sounds like you have a personal problem. He was part of a dynasty that your team will ever experience.
He said Curry is going to bury LeBrons legacy and “we need to get him 6 rings”. Guess one can’t even respond to that level of delusion with facts, without Warrior fans saying it’s jealousy. My team was actually able to 3 peat and has the most titles in the sport. Warrior fans acting like basketball didn’t exist before 2015 lol.
You are living in the past. Like some old man 30 years ago we were the best. Dynastys are getting more rare with a cap and more international players available. Ignore Marty because he sees through rose color glasses.
@arc89, “He was a part of a dynasty your team will never experience”. Once again I guess facts hurt your feelings. I am well aware the Lakers 3 peat was 20 years ago now. But it did happen so the “never experience part” is comically wrong. If the Lakers can get one more ring out of the LeBron/AD era, that will give them 7 rings in my lifetime. 4 more than the Warriors (and 3 currently). But sure only bay area fans have seen good times lmao.
Lol Lebron is a loser? What does that make you?
@lebuck look at your user name. I love Steph but I dont put his name in my screen name, because Im not weird like you.
As a GSW fan, all I do is own all other fans of the fansbases, that’s it. If I have to say a top 10 NBA all-time player is a loser person IRL and cant be trusted to say anything that isnt about basketball, I will every time. Because you bought into a fraud. I did not.
KD has no rings without Curry so what’s your point?
@amk1920 Ah yes, a braindead drone with no real ability to think for themselves so they swallow all Lebronaganda without asking why. You are a smart one, aren’t you! See, here’s where you went wrong: its a team game. It always was and always will be. Lebron felt his “legacy” threatened by Steph, so suddenly it became about talking about teams of 15 men as if only 1 of them was actually playing. It is wrong to think like this, and always will be, so you are starting off on a BS point to begin with.
Furthermore, as a fan, it literally does not matter that KD and Steph won 2 rings together, what matters is the rings themselves. And I will take KD or any other elite superstar back to get Steph more rings. It does not matter who else is around him though, Steph was better than KD then and he’s better than KD now, but both are elite superstars, top 10 all-time. As fans, we should want this. We just saw how far “1 elite plus all g leaguers” can go, and thats the postseason play-in game.
Bottom line is this: Steph is going to win more rings than Bron and it will be GLORIOUS!!! You believed in a fraud who purchased media outlets to talk him like he was a god, when he’s really just a great basketball player and nothing else. He’s really stupid IRL and does and says stupid things in public – Steph does not – that’s your true hero here. Remember that.
KD was named 2 time MVP of Finals they won together, so yeaaahhh… dream on kiddo…
I’ve never seen the word “Lebronaganda” before, so I’ll give Marty kudos there… but otherwise this is even beyond Harden-Westbrook-MVPS level homerism, to put it mildly enough to avoid the moderator.
@Marty, is that why LeBron sent Curry packing this year? Is that why Curry has missed the playoffs 2 years in a row. Your messiah hasn’t done a thing in 3 years.
I see no lies told by Marty. I really don’t.
When the NBA announced a DEC 2020 start-date, EVERYONE and his MOTHER knew that this would result in uneven, sloppy play and high-risk for injuries.
Lebron is bragging about knowing something that everyone else knew.
Like the anonymous agent once said about Lebron, he’s a generational player but tries too hard in building a legacy, instead of the legacy building by itself.
Lebron speaks BLM and all it stands for, yet when the opportunity called for it, chose the side of business and China ……. the NBA starting early was all about business, revenues for the league and the players – yet Lebron now rants against the early start. What the hell.
Too much drama, Lebron. It’s not a good look.
Injuries are a part of sports. Players in the past would have played with Injuries. Players used to put team first. Play with a injury and you have entire off season to heal.
Declining viewership because no one likes this clown. Can never take an L always blames others. Count down the days till he’s no longer in the nba
Why do you care? You said it’s all fake.
Best post goes to honcho. Really good stuff I just read.
Just stop.talking.dude. I use to love this guy, but the fact he feels he needs to comment on everything (like the playoffs that he’s no longer a part of) is getting so old.
SMH LeBron should say nothing these type of quotes makes him look like a big baby. Every team dealt with injuries. Suns has a better team than the Lakers. You lost move on.
The Suns had a better team than the Lakers without Anthony Davis. Pretending otherwise is comical. The best player for the Suns in the series was AD’s groin.
Suns were better even with AD on the court. Lakers were not that great this year. they had way to many holes. So should I say if Thompson was not injured the lakers would have lost in the play in. Sounds like my case is way more solid than yours.
The Lakers were up 2-1 in the series and had a double digit lead when AD’s groin wasnt Swiss cheese. Klay hasn’t played an NBA game in 2 years. No, your case is not better. Guess you turned into the typical Warrior fan on here who spew nonsense instead of making a logical argument.
Chris Paul wasnt healthy either…
Warriors were down 4 players for the play in game and barely loss on a great shot by LeBron. Claim on you want but Lakers were not as good as you pretend they were. Suns were in their first playoffs so of course they started off slow. Why couldn’t Lebron win without 1 player? Shows he is not the GOAT when other players can win without their star.
Only a homer LA fan actually believes that comical bunch of crap.
And Warriors fans will be severely disappointed with Klay in 2022.
That’s funny because the most comical things I see on this page are your homer takes on the Rockets…at least the Lakers are actually competing in basketball games before the Lakers fans are pumping them up
Like houston fans with Wall? Different type of players Wall needs speed to be a good player and Thompson is a catch and shoot player.
The Union wanted to play the 72 games (less would reduce salaries > pro rata) and have its players be able to play in the Olympics. They understood that some guys might want to opt out, and they negotiated that right for each player.
The Union, for the past decade, has been controlled by a small group of superstars, led by LBJ. The fact that he let’s his buddy (CP3) do the work doesn’t mean any major position of the Union happens over his objection.
So, what did LBJ want?
a) Lower # of games and salary?
b) Later start and more back to backs?
c) Season extending past the Olympics?
d) Universal opt out (cancel season) vs player by player opt out right?
e) Nothing in particular (proceed as they did), just understand he’s going to whine about whatever he doesn’t like.
E ….But lets make lemonade out of these lemons for the future if we must – He does bring up some valid points
I get it, its cringy, and Id prefer silence but there is a real issue at hand raised for the future years
Everybody involved , player assoc, Silver, owners need to work on a better scheduling system to help keep these guys healthy when it matters most. Extended rosters, less b2b, better scheduling, and maybe even less total games ( and then don’t extend cap out as they do all the time to curtail $ loses ) could all get better – It will take cooperation from all parties but at least the parties have a good relationship unlike MLB which is toix all around or the NFL were players are just pawns basically
Agree. And I agree with the validity of the statement LBJ made at the start of the year (if he in fact made it). I and others also made it (message boards), and made it again a few months ago when the league indicated that injuries weren’t any greater to that point in the year. That begged the real question, because the cumulative effect of playing so much in a short period and unusually stop and start wouldn’t be felt until the playoffs. And, I’ll reiterate, it could get worse from here.
BUT: What was LBJ’s alternative position at the time? Make clear that “y’all” includes his own union leaders, and let us know what his suggested alternatives at the time was (if there was one). If all he did was identify an obvious risk without setting forth an alternative, what was the point (to say I told you so later on)?
This issue will be looked at, no doubt (with or without LBJ’s statement). To me (and I’m sure others disagree), he didn’t lead on the issue when he had the chance. Now, he’s trying to lead from behind. Never impressive.
LBJ is not a union leader, nor was when this year was planned. Look it up. He complained about it at the time as any player who wanted an off-season might. Lakers played late too.
Old-time players never had the demand placed on them like the bubble plus cutdown offseason.
See above. I know he’s no longer a member of the leadership group, but he’s still the single most influential player voice. When there was thought of a strike last year in the bubble, several players (not on the Lakers) indicated that there could only be a strike if LBJ was in favor of it. But, even if he were just another player / union member, there’s no reason to do a public “I told you so” now, vs a public objection with a solution at the start of things.
LJ was caught in the middle in the offseason, between having a lot of influence and not having enough to make a difference. As an ex-union leader, he had to respect the then-current leadership. Besides there were no real solutions, and Silver did make quite a few compared to the usual.
I’m not sure it even a big deal, more missed days. IDKY Silver or anyone is sensitive about it. It is this season’s thing. Why all this outrage at a player expressing a simple truth in a concise & creative way?
Are these injuries or players just being soft. The stupid foul reviews are killing the game. Joker getting ejected for making a play on the ball? And predicting injuries? Quite a few players who weren’t injured and seem to be fine. Randle played top minutes and seemed fine.
Let call it what it is. Most players today feel entitled and carry the AAU mentality.
Are we still going with the “Jokic went for the ball” comments? He was angry that he didn’t get a call, then took a swipe at the ball in which he hit Payne in the face. Everything met the criteria for a Flagrant 2 foul. Also, even with Jokic on the floor for majority of the series, they still got swept and looked horrible against Phoenix. Stop using the Jokic play in Game 4 as an excuse.
The punch was glancing with little compression. Maybe the description should be more precise to address the people using it.
As an excuse for what? I’m talking about players being soft.
Sitting watching TV, ha, bye bye cry baby.
It’s easy to say the short off-season would lead to injuries. I think everyone knew that was a possibility. But he’s acting like he said it would lead to a rash of injuries in the playoffs, which he didn’t. By this point the injuries have nothing to do with the short off-season. Both the teams that made it to the finals are sitting at home. The Celtics and Nuggets are also at home. So none of the teams that played deep into the playoffs last year are even playing. Dumb look at me comment from Lebron. Not surprised.
Clips went deep and are still playing.
Wrong. Use you head, or personal experience. Wear & tear is perfectly capable of causing injuries. Not working out can damage soft tissue. Certainly at some point you worked hard enough that injuries became more likely. No?— life spent at a keyboard?— then it will be carpal tunnel.
How many more injured players would there have been last year had there not been a three month hiatus?
And two years ago were the injuries to most and KD as a result of a shortened season? Or jury that these things happen.
Kawhi, Irving, and AD have been injury prone thier entire careers. As with several other commenters, I am over LeBron. Used to love him but he is constantly whining about anything and everything. He also insists on wrecking his teams roster and payroll bringing in his friends.
Teams like Memphis need to watch this Atlanta run closely. This is your road.
Players sure love to complain about agreements after agreeing to them.
I miss old Lebron. Villian Lebron was so much fun to hate (while secretly you were amazed by him but would never admit it). Now it’s whining, crying, and self-congratulating all the time. It’s legitimately sad, he’s lost whatever sense of self-awarenes he once had. He was perfectly fine with all of this when it was as easy as defending his title, now that him and AD got a little banged up and lost it was dangerous and unfair.
I’m here for the ‘LeBum’ comments
Just because James is a great basketball player it doesn’t mean he’s smart. For some reason he thinks it’s important for him to let everybody know his opinion.
Pot, have you met my friend kettle?
Why defend him? He’s everything that’s wrong with pro sports.
A- I’ve never heard him claim he’s smart
B- Do you live under a rock? Everybody thinks there opinion is important these days …hence why you took your time to post this
C- Is anything he’s saying really wrong? Sure he should probably shut up and drink a pina colada on some deserted island but if this is Doug McDermott posting this half the crowd probably chimes ins and agrees with the message .
D- What did LeBron do to you guys? I get not liking a player or two in the league (I got a couple) but man this guy really gets to you guys at an unhealthy level it seems
LBJ … sour loser!
Give BRON, BRON some cheese to go with that whine. Just retire already. We are all tired of hearing you whine constantly and then listen to the likes of Cowherd and Mad Dog talk about all the time. Please take your cry baby buddy Aaron with you also. Tired of him as much as you.
None of the injuries have had any effect on the outcomes of anything, and it’s questionable to argue the causes of those injuries when you have one guy 75000 pounds over weight, another guy that gets hurt at every single turn, another guy that babies himself, a big guy, playing by the way, that has a history already and has a lot of weight to carry, etc. Maybe blame your gm for getting rid of a much needed wing defender, and adding multiple bigs you didnt need, that made you worse, instead of addressing that spot, and look in the mirror at yourself and Anthony Davis for refusing to play the positions you’re best used at in today’s NBA. I’m not usually someone that talks about this stuff, but Lebron’s comments in his last postgame press conference were top 3 worst I’ve ever seen him look, and this is right up there, with the excuses. Protecting players is extremely important, but the workload this year is comparable to other times, and when you look at how much time people missed from health protocols, which is the issue they should be complaining about, playing with little protection during a pandemic, the workload isnt what the narrative makes it seem, and we havent seen injuries out of the ordinary…its cool. It’s not Lebron’s fault the Lakers didnt match up with the team I picked to win the championship 3 months ago. I would think he would be happy for his friend tbough, but I guess he cares that much about perception that he is going to such strong lengths to protect himself. As a Lebron fan, its disappointing
Also acting like it’s some type of revelation that only Lebron saw coming and talked about is not a great look either
Injuries have had no effect on outcomes??? LJ drives you to illogic and a big word-turd. Get a grip.
LJ is allowed to comment on twitter, as is anyone else, and he says the same things everyone else does, quite well I think.
“Players… the product & benefit of our game!” And injuries from changed rules “isn’t just part of the game”. True stuff, not BLM boilerplate.
IDK what position you have him penned in for him to rebel from, but I doubt it was best and anyway, it got a title.
Everyone is complaining about injuries and protocols. Somewhere near here is an article saying the Celtics were hit the worst with covid. Is that it.
Are you suggesting that I’m hating on Lebron?
If you look at the rosters of the teams that played, and who they matched up with, there has been almost no impact on results from injuries that took place recently.
LeBron James must be psychic. Maybe he can be a psychic after basketball.
Crybaby
Thanks LBJ for stating the obvious before the season and again now. Less time off and a compact schedule lead to more injuries??? Really?!
I will give him something, he thinks he’s clever waiting long enough after his team was bounced to make these comments that include other teams/players. Of course, with his history we all know he’s just crying about his own situation, but…
If you want to whine to someone, whine to Lakers management. Your sidekick is made of glass and the rest of the roster was questionable at best. I give him credit for winning it all last year with a flawed team, but if he doesn’t think having the couple months off before coming back to the bubble helped both him and AD, then he’s crazy.
“Stating the obvious”? Not obvious to posters up and down this page, nor to NBA chief liar Bass, who says there is no effect, no change from previous years.
The LeBron hate is comical. The guy is making a comment about his job. I’m pretty sure we all talk about our jobs whether it be with a co-worker, family or friends, but the difference is he’s a famous professional athlete so people actually tune into what he’s saying. I’d love to see some of you get absolutely hammered for your opinions on your careers lol
Oh, you’re tired lebron? Not enough time off to recharge? Welcome to the lives of normal people, except you get paid well, and we work our butt off the get 2 weeks of vacation every year, but keep sooking about how you only had 2 months.
NBA spokesman Mike Bass:
“Injury rates were virtually the same this season as they were during 2019-20 while starter-level and All-Star players missed games due to injury at similar rates as the last three seasons.”
NBC Sports: link to nba.nbcsports.com
“It wasn’t your imagination: a lot more players missed a lot more games this season. Especially star players.
While that felt obvious, a study by Kevin Pelton of ESPN confirmed the numbers, which Baxter Holmes put into a story.”
“The average number of players sidelined per game due to injury, non-COVID-19 illness or rest this season was 5.1 (includes both teams), according to ESPN’s Kevin Pelton, the highest since he started tracking it in 2009-10. That does not include games missed by players in the health and safety protocols….
The increase was even more pronounced when focusing on the league’s stars. This season’s All-Stars missed 370 of a possible 1,944 games (19%), the highest percentage in a season in NBA history, according to Elias Sports Bureau research. They missed an average of 13.7 regular-season games each this year.”
It’s a cover-up, and LJ talking about it confuses HR posters, of which 6 look new, possibly driven by (rightwing) political boards… Three (i.e. PhxFreedom) say they used to “love him” but not anymore… a purely rhetorical method to lie, like Bass uses words creatively for an impression.
Now Marty comment how Durant is the most-hated player, since he makes everything about himself, including GSW in his head.
Man.. does this guy ever quit crying ? Get a real job
It’s amazing how LeBron lives in so many peoples heads.
Well they had a choice of less money or quick turn around. They couldn’t have later start and still get the same money. Wonder if he would be saying this if his team was still playing?
“Spoiled millionaire crybaby offers criticism, no actual solutions”