The Lakers are set to be without LeBron James for an extended period, per ESPN’s Shams Charania on March 9. The NBA’s all-time leading scorer sustained a groin injury in the game against the Celtics on March 8, which caused him to exit the game prematurely in the fourth quarter.
James suffered a similar groin injury in the 2018-19 season, which caused him to miss 17 games. There’s some potential bad news for James, who appeared in 58 of the Lakers’ 62 games before his injury.
If James were to miss 17 games again, he’d be disqualified from contention for the All-NBA, All-Defensive honors and MVP awards/honors. James needs to play in at least seven of the Lakers’ final 20 games (as of March 10) to meet the threshold of 65 games.
The NBA implemented the 65-game rule before the 2023-24 season to reduce the load management of star players, a problem that plagued the league in previous years.
Will LeBron James Play 65 Games?
Last season, 19 notable NBA stars were deemed ineligible for regular-season awards as they failed to meet the 65-game criteria.
Among them were Joel Embiid, Donovan Mitchell, Kristaps Porzingis, Draymond Green, OG Anunoby, Jimmy Butler, LaMelo Ball, Evan Mobley and Jamal Murray.
Several NBA players and analysts criticized the league over the rule, citing it unfair to players dealing with legitimate injuries. Green felt that Embiid was forced to play a game against the Warriors in January 2014 with fear of not reaching the 65-game threshold, which in turn led to the Sixers star suffering an injury.
“Joel playing tonight felt very much so because of the 65-game limit, which I think is actually [expletive],” Green said on his podcast. “Guys didn’t face those rules before, but those same All-NBA teams, those same MVP awards list, defensive player of the year, those lists are the same. I once lost a DPOY award to Kawhi Leonard, and I think he played 51 games.”
Lakers Plan To Survive Without Leader
If James doesn’t meet the 65-game threshold, it would strip him of contention for awards of which he is deserving. The 40-year-old has averaged 25.0 points, 8.2 rebounds and 8.5 assists in his 22nd season — a feat no player has ever achieved.
Amid James’ hiatus, the other Lakers plan to hold the fort and remain a competitive unit. Since the start of 2025, the Purple and Gold owns the third-best record (22-8) in the NBA, but their red-hot form could take a jolt due to James’ injury.
“We’ve had many situations where a player deals with some type of injury or a trade or whatever it is, and we’ve done a really good job of bouncing back,” Austin Reaves said, via The Athletic. “And I don’t expect anything else. It’s a next-man-up mentality. Not one person’s gonna do what LeBron does for us. But you can do it as a collective. And … hopefully, he gets back out on the court soon.”
James also expressed confidence in his teammates to stay afloat in his absence.
“We can compete versus anyone in this league,” James said. “So, we’ll be fine. We got to continue to build our habits. … We made an acquisition late in the season, and we’re still trying to build. And we want to get full. That’s the No. 1 objective for us: How we can get full and get all our guys together and see exactly what we look like.”
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