For LeBron James, a completely screwed-up season with the Los Angeles Lakers ends in added disappointment.
The Lakers announced that the 37-year-old will not be able to play the last two games of the season in the NBA due to his ankle injury. James thus loses the chance to win his second top scorer title after 2007/08.
“I gave everything I had when I was on the court,” James wrote on Twitter. For him, ending his career is not an issue: “We’ll all see each other again in the fall.”
Under NBA rules, a player must play in at least 58 of the 82 regular-season games to be included in the standings for best scoring average. James, who has been out injured since late March, is coming off 56 games. James averaged 30.3 points, his second-best career total after 2005-06 (31.4). Only Joel Embiid (Philadelphia 76ers/30.4) is slightly better this season.
The Lakers had missed the play-offs for the second time in the fourth season with James. In 2019/20 the “Purple and Gold” had won the title, in 2020/21 they lost in the first play-off round. Without James, there were last eight defeats in a row.
