Contrary to popular belief, LeBron James isn’t a player that is welcoming the extra rest that is brought upon by the NBA’s current hiatus.
When the NBA announced that it would be heading into a hiatus due to the growing concern around the COVID-19 pandemic, it was clear we were entering uncharted territory. And there were, really, two ways to ingest the news for fans.
On one hand, you had the fans fearing the worst – that we had seen the last of the NBA season for this year and that we would have to wait more than six months to see meaningful basketball again.
On the other hand, you also had your glass half-full fans. These are the ones that were trying to see a potential bright side in all the madness.
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You know, possibly finding glimmers of hope of how this current hiatus can end up being a good thing for the NBA moving forward – at the same time also hoping that we could see some type of return in the not-so-distant future and that, at the very least, we could see the conclusion of the season.
One point that some of those fans were making surrounded around the idea that the hiatus could work as somewhat of a break and extra rest for players ahead of the stretch run and playoffs. Generally, extra rest – especially for the more veteran stars – in the NBA is a good thing.
That, for the most part, is a safe assumption to make. However, according to LeBron James, that isn’t exactly the way it works for most NBA players. At least, for him.
LeBron explained on the “Road Trippin’” podcast how the extra rest is overblown and would in fact hurt him in the long run.
On the surface, you might say it’s a bit foolish for LeBron to suggest this. After all, he is aging and should welcome any potential rest ahead of the playoffs that he could get – especially in the climate of load management in the NBA.
Although, every player has their own system. And LeBron hasn’t really been known as a player to take many games off. He takes the occasional but has consistently played at least 75 games each year (when healthy).
If nothing else, this is an interesting take to hear from an NBA player. Ideally, of course, there would be no stoppage at all. Though in the times we’re living in, the hope is that we are able to get back to basketball, in one fashion or another, sooner rather than later.