Despite rumors that some around the league want the 2019-20 NBA season canceled already, LeBron James has made it clear he isn’t on board with that idea.
We’re approaching the two-month mark of the current NBA’s hiatus amid COVID-19 concerns, but the 2019-20 season, from all indications, will hopefully resume in the next few months. The hope is that the league at least finishes the playoffs in one form or fashion.
However, it’s hard to deny that with every passing day and week without a solid update it’s looking more and more unlikely. Doubt has undoubtedly crept in. It’s only natural.
Adding to that, Jabari Young of CNBC reported that some league executives and agents are calling on Adam Silver to cancel the season. Because there’s no real tangible plan in place for the next few months, they want the season canceled.
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It makes some sense. Why continue down this road if there’s a chance that the season won’t be resumed? Why push back another season’s league calendar if there’s no guarantee that the 2019-20 season will resume.
If there is some real doubt, it would make some sense for the league to cancel the 2019-20 campaign and focus on trying to continue in 2020-21 in a safe manner. That idea does hold some water and would make a ton of sense.
Instead of trying to finish the season by August or September, simply focus on planning for how things will be played out next season.
However, LeBron James doesn’t agree.
In a somewhat strong response, LeBron states that he wants no business in canceling the season – yet.
Saw some reports about execs and agents wanting to cancel season??? That’s absolutely not true. Nobody I know saying anything like that. As soon as it’s safe we would like to finish our season. I’m ready and our team is ready. Nobody should be canceling anything. 👑
— LeBron James (@KingJames) April 30, 2020
This isn’t exactly the most surprising of stances you’d expect to see from LeBron James. It’s not a shocker to see that a player wants to resume the season once it’s safe again. It’s not actually breaking news. Especially for a player like LeBron James, where concluding the 2019-20 season isn’t even about money.
For LeBron, losing a season is much more costly. Losing a season and playoff run means another, essentially, lost season for his legacy building. At the age of 35, it makes things even worse. After missing out on the playoffs during his first season with the Los Angeles Lakers, another season without the opportunity to win a championship would be devastating.
LeBron isn’t in a place legacy-wise where he can afford to throw away golden opportunities to win an NBA Championship, and that’s what this season represents for the Lakers. They were the top seed in the West before the hiatus and were going to be a strong favorite to win the championship.
However, if the 2019-20 season is canceled that all changes. There’s no guarantee the Lakers would be able to replicate the same success next season. LeBron will be a year older and Anthony Davis could test the free-agent market this summer (who knows what he’s going to do).