The guy's almost 40 years old. He had and has no reason to waste any of his remaining miles on a dead end team going nowhere while injured. If they can actually get into the playoffs, though, that's a different story, which presumably gave him a reason to accelerate his return and avoid surgery (for now...it still may be in the cards later this summer).

None of this is unusual or surprising behavior for any basketball player, least of all somebody of LeBron's stature.

Damian Lillard, for one, just packed it in for the season this week as soon as making the play-in became unrealistic. This is literally what veteran stars in this league do all the time.

I mean, other than the $44 million they're paying him and his obligations to his teammates.

You never disappoint...

My favorite part of the LeBron experience may be that the one thing he actually DID accomplish in LA, the COVID title, wouldn't have even happened if he'd had his way and the league had shut down like he insisted before his failed walk-out.

Afterall, his usual stans would've just been willing to chalk that up as a title he 'would've won' and count it for him anyway. So why bother actually earning his check?

Well if Damien Lillard is the bar to clear for your GOAT, then I guess we're good here...

And yeah, shutting it down with 2 weeks to go when you're 3 games out due to a previous injury is totally the same as shutting it down with 12 weeks to go when you just set the all-time scoring record a couple days ago and were plenty healthy to go stat chasing.

Definitely the same thing.

The example was not made to compare their quality as basketball players. It was to point out that shutting veteran players down with injuries on bad teams has become commonplace.

If LeBron was plenty healthy, he probably wouldn't have had two doctors recommending surgery for his foot and having had to make the (rumored) trip all the way to Germany to see a specialist.

With 1/3 of the season yet to play when the guy was healthy enough to go out there and chase the scoring record?

Uh huh...

MJ's last season at age 39 he played all 82 games.

:)

:Poke:

He's not going to play with an injury on a bad team going nowhere for no reason. The Lakers surely would have backed him on that well.

Only LeBron haters could turn him coming back while hurt with a foot likely requiring surgery before season's end into a bad thing.

Do you think that doctor has "LeBron James of Feet" on his business card?

Real reliable narrator you've chosen here...

Love how easily KCC accepts LePropaganda as fact.

It's not like the guy lies so much that it's become a meme or anything.

Yeah, but surely the Wizards were awesome that year.

Afterall, only a fool plays a full season for a bad team...

I wonder if he's read any good book jackets lately?

MJ also retired multiple times in his mid 30s and played about 400 less games (regular and playoffs) than LeBron at the same age. That's like 5 seasons of basketball mileage he didn't have on his body.

Dennis Schroder is the one who suggested he was in Germany.

That was one of my favorites LMAO