The NBA is still figuring out how to complete the rest of the season whenever play can resume, and LeBron James has his opinion on what the league should do.
Appearing this week on Uninterrupted’s “Road Trippin’ Podcast” with former Cleveland Cavaliers teammates Richard Jefferson and Channing Frye, the four-time MVP said he was against going right into the postseason.
“One thing you can’t just do is go straight to the playoffs,” said James, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN. “Because it discredits the 60-plus games that guys had fighting for that position.”
One possible scenario mentioned by James, 35, was a truncated regular-season finale of five to 10 games before the playoff bracket were to begin. He also mentioned his concern about the sudden layoff negatively affecting his body.
“When you’ve been building six months of conditioning and preparation and then (it’s gone), the narrative that I don’t like (is), ‘Well, now guys get so much rest.’ Or, like, ‘LeBron, he’s 35, he’s got so many minutes on his body, now he gets so much rest,’ ” James added. “It’s actually the opposite for me because my body, when we stopped playing, was asking me, like, ‘What the hell are you doing?’ My body was like, ‘Hey man, what the hell is going on? It’s March 13th, you’re getting ready for the playoffs, why are you shutting down right now?’ And I was right there turning the corner, like, I felt like I was rounding third base, getting ready for the postseason. So the rest factor, I think it’s a little bit (overblown). Especially when you’re in the full swing of things.”
In one small bit of unrelated good news, the 16-time All-Star did mention that his film, “Space Jam 2,” was still on schedule despite prevalent postponements in the movie industry due to the global coronavirus pandemic.
“(It) has always been scheduled to come out in June of 2021. So we’re kind of (OK])” James said. “And a lot of it right now is animation, so being indoors is actually great for us. So we’re still on. Just like everything in the world, (it) is slowed down a little bit, but we’re still on target. I’m looking forward to it. During this time right now, I wish we could release it right now, man, and give people some things to watch in their households. But we got until next year, next summer. We’re excited about it.”
On the topic of the remainder of this season, both owners and players seem to be united in their desire to salvage it. James, who is especially affected as the leader of the No. 1 seed in the West in a year that represents one of his last shots at winning an NBA title, underscores the point that a solution has to make sense both equitably and physically for all.
