Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James was named Western Conference Player of the Week for games played from April 6-12, the NBA announced.
James led the Lakers to a 3-1 record despite both of his co-stars Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves going down with injuries, averaging 24.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 9.7 assists. Those numbers would have been even higher, but James did not play in the second half of Sunday’s win over the Utah Jazz.
The Lakers’ season appeared to be on the verge of disaster when both Doncic and Reaves went down, but to his credit, James stepped up his game in every facet to keep his team afloat. Despite getting accustomed to his role as the third option in the Lakers’ offense, the 41-year-old quickly figured out how to return to his previous role as the primary scorer and playmaker knowing that is what his team needed of him.
After sitting out the Lakers’ loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder to begin the week, James led L.A. to three straight wins to close out the regular season. That began with 26 points, eight rebounds, 11 assists, two steals and one block in a 119-103 road victory over the Golden State Warriors.
He then followed that up with 28 points, six rebounds, 12 assists and four steals at home against the Phoenix Suns in the second night of a back-to-back. Against the Suns, James became just the fourth player in NBA history to reach 12,000 career regular season assists.
To close the regular season, James had 14 points, four rebounds, six assists and three steals in one half against the Jazz.
James has the most Player of the Week honors in NBA history by far as this was his 70th, while Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant are tied for second with 33.
LeBron James excited for start of playoffs
James seems to be playing his best basketball of the season going into the playoffs and even though his co-stars remain out, the Lakers star is excited for the start of the postseason.
“Listen, the postseason is about to be, as the young kids will say, lit,” James said on the latest episode of his Mind the Game podcast. “This shit is gonna be litty, it’s gonna be crazy, I’m looking forward to it. Me, personally, like, I don’t know how many more postseasons I got left in my career and we talked about this awhile ago, like, getting ready for the postseason, like that moment. It doesn’t matter what you did in the regular season. That shit is out the window now. It doesn’t matter. It starts again, this is it. I’m excited, man, I can’t wait.”
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