‘LeBron James, injury rates were virtually the same in 2019-20 season too’: NBA fires back at Lakers star for accusations that the league compromised All-Stars’ fitness with early season start

LeBron James rage-tweeted for a bit today, criticizing the NBA for a compressed 2021 season. The league responded with a statement.

NBA fans worldwide were greeted to some terrible news all through Wednesday. Chief among them was how Kawhi Leonard and Chris Paul could miss time because of different health concerns.

Kawhi has been diagnosed with a suspected ACL injury, which might mean that his 2021 playoffs are over. Paul, meanwhile, contracted Covid-19 despite getting vaccinated earlier this year. He’s out till he tests negative, which could easily mean 3-4 games of the Conference Finals.

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This means that fans like us, and even LeBron James, who’s uncharacteristically watching the playoffs from home, are missing out on some excellent playoff performers.

James’s concerns were completely legitimate given that he actively campaigned for the season to start late. He gave a voice to what tons of NBA fans have going on in their minds. The league, naturally, had to respond.

NBA releases statement after some rage tweets from LeBron James

ESPN insider Marc Stein released two tweets consisting of an official position from the league offices regarding the injury situation during these playoffs:

“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.”

“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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There are obvious reasons why this clarification from the league is a PR piece more than anything. We’re not going to have a sports league accepting that it messed up in its planning. That much is obvious to anyone with common sense.

What the league office is intentionally being obtuse to is the fact that this year’s injuries were much more avoidable. Most of the players who got injured weren’t in action after September 15 last year.

They played through a 72-game season in 5 months after a break lasting at least 3 games. They did it while combating Covid-enforced game cancellations and back-to-backs galore. This is the major reason for so many soft tissue injuries thus far.