The Los Angeles Lakers had a disappointing season that kept them out of the postseason. LeBron James made it clear that he does not want to be in this situation again.
“I can/will NOT miss the postseason again for my career! This s–t HURT. O.K. back to watching these games,” he tweeted on Friday.
The Lakers were just one game out of the play-in tournament and finished their season with 33–49 record. Head coach Frank Vogel was fired soon after. This is the same organization that has 17 championship trophies — tied for the highest number in the NBA with the Boston Celtics — with their most recent one coming in 2020.
James just wrapped up his 19th season in the league, and in that time he has only missed the playoffs four times. He typically shines during postseason, as he is the NBA’s all-time leading scorer in the playoffs with 7,631 points. Michael Jordan is second with 5,987 points. The 37-year-old Lakers forward is a four-time NBA champion and often in greatest-of-all-time conversations along with Jordan.
James finished this season averaging 30.3 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. It’s not a small accomplishment, as he is both the youngest and oldest player in NBA history to average 25+ points per game. He averaged 27.6 points when he was 20 years old.
With James, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook in the roster, the expectations for the Lakers were high during preseason. However, injuries to James and Davis held this superstar trio to only 21 games together.
“It’s been tough not being able to fully reach our potential as far as us three being on the floor and seeing what we can really be,” Davis said early April.
James has been very active on social media through the first round of the playoffs. He has shared his thoughts and reactions so much that he and former teammate Kyle Kuzma, now with the Washington Wizards, joked about doing a sports talk show together. However, this won’t be possible next year if James does manage to get back into the playoffs.
While he made a bold promise, James has proven multiple times throughout his career that he can’t be underestimated.
