Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images
Pro Football Hall of Famer and co-host of FS1’s Undisputed Shannon Sharpe sounded off Friday on Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James’ take regarding why so many star players have gotten injured in the NBA this season.
LeBron took to Twitter on Wednesday and blamed the injury on the short offseason and condensed schedule on the heels of last season running long due to the COVID-19 pandemic:
LeBron James @KingJames
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
While Sharpe didn’t disagree with the rationale, he expressed his belief to TMZ Sports that the players are equally responsible for the short offseason as the owners and the NBA as a whole:
“Look, the NBA wanted to recoup some money, they were in a pandemic and lost money, but the players wanted to get those paychecks.
“They couldn’t play without the NBA and the [NBA Players Association] agreeing. So, everybody’s equally culpable because they needed the money and the players wanted the paycheck. It is what it is.”
To Sharpe’s point, the NBA and NBPA agreed to start the 2020-21 season Dec. 22 and to have a 72-game season. Doing so prevented the players’ contracts from getting prorated down significantly.
As a result of the agreement, the Lakers and Miami Heat had the shortest offseason in major North American professional sports history, as they began play 72 days after the end of the 2020 NBA Finals.
The short offseason seemed to take a toll not only on those teams but every team in the NBA this season.
The Lakers were hit especially hard with both LeBron and Anthony Davis missing a ton of time due to injury during the regular season. That resulted in L.A. only nabbing the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference and getting ousted by the Phoenix Suns in the first round of the playoffs.
During the postseason, several high-profile players have missed time including Kyrie Irving and James Harden of the Brooklyn Nets, Kawhi Leonard of the Los Angeles Clippers, Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers, Donovan Mitchell of the Utah Jazz and Jaylen Brown of the Boston Celtics.
While Sharpe believes there is plenty of blame to go around, he backed up the notion that so many stars landing on the shelf is bad for the league, saying, “The NBA is a superstar-driven league. The fifth guy on the bench, the 13th guy on the bench—nobody cares if he’s injured. Kawhi Leonard, Kyrie Irving, James Harden, Joel Embiid, LeBron James, Anthony Davis—people care about those guys.”
In what has essentially been a battle of attrition, only five teams remain this season. The Phoenix Suns, Clippers and Milwaukee Bucks have already punched their ticket to the conference finals, and either the Sixers or Atlanta Hawks will join them after they meet in Game 7 of their second-round series Sunday.
A full offseason of rest will do many of the aforementioned superstars good, but with the Summer Olympics being played in Tokyo, some of those players will have to decide between letting their bodies recover and representing their country on the world stage.
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