No player has ever played 23 seasons in the NBA, but LeBron James has made a habit of making history throughout his career. And this season, his eighth with the Los Angeles Lakers, was truly a roller coaster ride unlike any other.
“Well obviously the start of the season wasn’t the way I wanted to start out, obviously,” James said on the latest episode of his “Mind the Game” podcast. “Kind of started on the shelf, coming off the offseason when I was dealing with the sciatic pain. So missing training camp, missing preseason, missing the first 14 games of the regular season was challenging for me, it was difficult for me. It was also, mentally got to me a little bit to even know or feel like I could get back to my level of play. So obviously when I got back it took a little bit of time to kind of get that rhythm, to get that flow again after missing so much time. But once I got going it just felt good to be back out there, be back out there with the group.”
James had never missed a season opener, so that was definitely something he had to work through as he had never experienced it before. And once he did return to the court, it was another task for he and this Lakers squad to mesh together.
“At one point obviously we were trying to figure out what we were as a team, how we all could mesh together and injuries kind of hit again,” James added. [Austin Reaves] gets hurt, Luka [Doncic] kind of steps away from the team for a little bit for the birth of his child, I get hurt again. It just seemed like so many seasons wrapped in one, but we were still staying afloat as a team. We were still playing good basketball even with guys in and out.
“And then we just hit a really good streak when I came back after my last few games out where I fit into a role that our team needed. Luka was playing at an MVP level. AR was playing at an All-Star level and we were just on fire. We were winning games, we were defending at a high level, we were one of the best offensive teams in the league, one of the top-10 defensive teams in the league. Up until that point, it was great and then obviously like a week before the playoffs, everyone kind of knows what happened. Luka goes out with the hamstring, AR goes out with the oblique and we are headed into the playoffs with two of our biggest guns not playing.”
It took some time, but once the Lakers clicked into place they looked like one of the best teams in the league, but those injuries to Doncic and Reaves changed everything and forced James to revert back to his normal role. And he was ready for the task.
“But I felt pretty good,” James noted. “I was able to ramp up over those months and then when I came back and kind of fit into that role I was able to ramp up some more to get ready for the postseason. But it was definitely different because I figured I would go into the postseason as kind of like this Swiss Army knife role where I could really pick my spots, play this third situation, whatever the case may be. Or whatever, if it needed to be first in certain quarters, if it needed to be second, whatever. But I was thrown back into that number one option role and for our team to win a playoff series, I think that was a huge accomplishment.
“I mean, obviously my aspirations are much bigger than just one playoff series. I’ve won a lot of playoff series and one is never enough. But under the circumstances of what our team had went through and what we were going through at that time. AR did come back and was able to play some good basketball like the last few games, but he was still trying to find his rhythm. Obviously we never got Luka back, we had a lot of injuries, man. But for our ball club, under the circumstances that we was in, to win a playoff series in the Western Conference, I give a lot of respect and a lot of kudos to our guys and to our coaching staff of mentally, physically preparing us for that matchup and giving all that we had versus the defending champions.”
Expectations for both James and the Lakers are always much higher than the second round, but as he noted, considering the circumstances, everyone deserves credit for accomplishing what they did in the playoffs. And in the end, it’s hard for James to look back on this year negatively.
“It was a pretty good season,” James said. “Had some good individual moments. Breaking some more records, setting some more records, that’s all pretty cool, love that. But one of the most impressive things for me to be out there in a playoff game with Bronny. We had a stretch in one of those games, I think it was Game 3 in Houston, where we ran off 10 straight points between the two of us in a postseason game. That was a moment where I kind of blacked out and was like, ‘What is going on? Wow. How amazing is this right now.’
“It was a successful season, like I said. To be able to play at a high level, know that I can still play at that high level, carry a team into the playoffs at that point in time and then help a team win a playoff series at my age and stage of my career it was pretty special. So yeah, that’s pretty much Year 23 in a nutshell.”
There is simply no equivalent or comparison for what James did in his 23rd NBA season, but he still managed to exceed all expectations for what anyone should be capable of at this stage of their career.
LeBron James details thought process, timeline going into free agency
The question now for James is whether he will return for a 24th NBA season and if so, where will he play. And the Lakers superstar spoke on his thought process going into free agency and gave a rough timeline on when he will make his decision.
If you love our reporting, choose LakersNation.com as a preferred source on Google.
