After LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers clinched the franchise’s 17th championship in the Orlando bubble, they only had a few weeks to prepare for the 2020-21 season.
With last season being delayed due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the league decided to rush this season in order to get back to a traditional schedule for the 2021-22 season. Additionally, with the 2020 Tokyo Olympics taking place this summer, there was some talk amongst league sponsors and TV partners to wrap up this season before that gets underway.
Because of that, the season got started before Christmas as opposed to in January or February when James and many other players wanted, especially the ones that had deep runs in the bubble. The NBA Players Association agreed to the early start date, however, because of the financial implications for all parties involved.
The results of rushing to start the season as well as condensing the season itself have not been great as the second round of the postseason is currently going on and players are getting injured left and right.
James and Anthony Davis being injured led to the Lakers’ first-round exit after an injury-plagued season and other stars across the league such as Kawhi Leonard, Kyrie Irving, James Harden, Joel Embiid, Chris Paul, Jamal Murray, Donovan Mitchell, Mike Conley and more have all missed postseason time due to injury.
James is typically not one to shy away from letting his opinion be known, especially on important issues, and he took to Twitter on Wednesday to sound off on a league for all of the injuries that have taken place as a product of a rushed season:
They 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
— LeBron James (@KingJames) June 16, 2021
RIM REST rest before starting back up. 8, possibly 9 ALL-STARS has missed Playoff games(most in league history). This is the best time of the year for our league and fans but missing a ton of our fav players. It’s insane. If there’s one person that know about the body and how it
— LeBron James (@KingJames) June 16, 2021
works all year round it’s ME! I speak for the health of all our players and I hate to see this many injuries this time of the year. Sorry fans wish you guys were seeing all your fav guys right now. ????????????
— LeBron James (@KingJames) June 16, 2021
And I know all about the business side too/factors so don’t even try me! I get it.
— LeBron James (@KingJames) June 16, 2021
James knows his body better than anyone and has been in the league for 18 years, so perhaps no one is more qualified to speak on this situation than him.
While he may not have agreed with the December start date though, the NBAPA that represents him did, so it’s hard to put all of the blame on Adam Silver and the league for trying to make up the revenue that was lost due to the pandemic.
Kuzma admits short turnaround affected physical health
This isn’t a new topic as players across the league have been talking about it all year. Kyle Kuzma spoke on it after the Lakers were eliminated and he definitely believes the short offseason impacted his and the team’s overall physical health.
“I think it was a big impact for sure,” explained Kuzma. “I think we all kind of felt it during the year. Going through the year having soft-tissue injuries, having little nicks and bruises as you would any season, but a little bit more this season. Not really having an offseason. I think we only had 71 days to get ready for the season, but you got to think after winning a championship, most of us took time off because that was a long haul.
“A grueling three months and to ramp it back up really quick, I felt like that’s why you see a lot of little injuries that we had and some soft tissue with AD throughout the year, but I think a longer offseason will do us all well, especially for me. I haven’t had a nice, good offseason in two years. Getting injured and obviously last year, so it’s going to be well. It’s going to do well.”
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