NBA Responds To LeBron James’ Claim On Injuries

After it was announced the Kawhi Leonard had to miss Game 5 with a knee injury, LeBron James took to social media to lash out at the NBA, blaming the league for rushing the season.

“They all didn’t wanna listen to me about the start of the season. I knew exactly what would happen,” James tweeted. “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 RIM 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.”

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LeBron James Blames NBA For Stars Getting Injuredhttps://t.co/dZyhxzgA62

— SideAction (@SideActionHQ) June 16, 2021

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It didn’t take very long for the NBA to respond to LeBron James.

“Injury rates were virtually the same this season as they were during 2019-20 while starter-level and All-Star players missed games due to injury at similar rates as the last three seasons,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass said, via Marc Stein of the New York Times. “While injuries are an unfortunate reality of our game, we recognize the enormous sacrifices NBA players and teams have made to play through this pandemic.”

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More from NBA spokesman Mike Bass to @NYTSports on criticism of this season's schedule registered today by LeBron James:

"While injuries are an unfortunate reality of our game, we recognize the enormous sacrifices NBA players and teams have made to play through this pandemic.”

— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) June 16, 2021

I see where LeBron James is coming from, but the NBA had some issues with scheduling in the offseason. They had the bubble playoffs roll late due to the pandemic, and they also couldn’t have this season’s playoffs go too deep due to the upcoming Summer Olympics.

Obviously, the players had a burden, as well. But it seems like this whole situation was just the product of a pandemic that screwed everything up.

Now, we’ll await LeBron’s rebuttal to the NBA.

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