LeBron James had continued to be an iron man, playing in each of the Los Angeles Lakers’ first 23 games of the season. However, he missed his first contest of the year against Portland on Friday, and was notably absent from the team’s recent practice. This sudden unavailability has triggered understandable skepticism from Stephen A. Smith, who wondered if it had got to do with things beyond the star’s age, since “personal reasons” were cited by the team.
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When hosting First Take with Brian Windhorst and Shams Charania, Smith questioned whether LeBron’s absence was truly due to load management.
“Obviously, there’s an elevated level of criticism that has come in his direction, as far as I’m concerned, because of the whole Bronny James situation this season,” the veteran sports television personality said, after probing for more information from Shams.
“Now, when you look at the way the Lakers have been playing, you look at the load that it’s taken on him, one could argue it’s not just physical but emotional as well. So, when I saw personal reasons, I was thinking it was something more along those lines,” Smith added.
Ever since Bronny was drafted, there has been constant criticism about the move. The noise grew louder when he was given a 4-year, $7.9M guaranteed deal. What did not help was Bronny’s underwhelming performances in the Summer League and at the start of the season. Smith believes the noise surrounding his son has affected The King as well.
Smith’s take came after Charania insisted that LeBron was taking extra time off to have eight straight days of rest during a down period for the Lakers.
With the NBA In-Season Tournament, some team schedules have momentarily become much lighter than usual. But Smith rebuffed Shams’ claim as a copout, speculating it was related to the underwhelming rookie performance of James’ son, Bronny.
Smith had underlined that the Lakers’ injury report cited personal reasons for LBJ’s absence, rather than rest, if the true motivation was to get the 22-year veteran extra time to recover. While Shams did not refute Smith’s bold claim, he did emphasize that LeBron’s break was planned around this extra downtime.
“He’s done this in the past. I agree with you, how they list it, how they cite it, that’s on the team. That’s how they want to handle it… The only reason this is possible is because the NBA Cup schedule allows them to use this time.” Charania added.
When the question was directed to Windhorst, he echoed Shams’ sentiment that James was simply prioritizing his health. The longtime ESPN sportswriter reminded his co-hosts of LBJ’s foot injuries over the last couple of seasons while emphasizing it.
“It was a difficult last couple of weeks for LeBron and I think the Lakers are happy to give him this time, quite frankly. If you’re asking me if I think he’s trying to make some sort of statement, I haven’t gotten that sense at all.” Windhorst said.
Despite the pushback from his co-hosts, Smith may have had a valid reason to suspect LeBron’s unforeseen absence during an otherwise healthy campaign. Bronny has struggled to contribute with both Los Angeles and South Bay after being selected 55th overall this past summer. And the jury is still out whether his NBA career will outlast his rookie deal.
