As the ongoing NBA All-Star Weekend commenced, one question was raised prominently amidst the shootarounds, players’ press conferences, and contests. That was, obviously, the absence of LeBron James from all of them. The 40-year-old was dealing with some injury issues leading up to the All-Star game, but the same had been dealt with easily. Therefore, as the player reached the podium to give his remarks before the highly anticipated event, there was some optimism in the air. Unfortunately, he quickly evaporated that into thin air.

During the recent pre-game media session at the Chase Center, LeBron James declared that he will not be playing in the All-Star game!

Straight out, when a reporter asked what fans would see tonight from the Lakers star, he replied, “You won’t see anything from me tonight. Unfortunately, I will not be in uniform tonight.”

The 40-year-old had a good reason behind the absence, as he revealed that he is “still dealing with ankle and foot discomfort. So, I will not be playing tonight, unfortunately”.

Making himself unavailable 90 minutes before the game’s commencement, LeBron James created history. After all, the player has now broken his remarkable streak of starting in consecutive All-Star games. The number had reached up to an impressive 20, with his appearance in 2024. That number also allowed him to break Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s previous record for the most number of All-Star Appearances by a single NBA player. His first All-Star Game appearance was back in 2005, meaning that people who will be tuning in to watch the game this time will miss out on something that existed for the last two decades!

LeBron James had been listed on the Injury Report due to left foot injury management since early December. He sustained the ankle injury only recently. Both ailments were not considered too big of a concern. After all, LeBron had missed only 1 game since the beginning of the new year. According to ESPN’s Tim Bontemps, LeBron revealed that he was hoping his condition would be good enough to allow him to play this morning. When the same did not happen, priorities had to be set in place. Unfortunately, as Bontemps added, “it was more important for him to prepare for the stretch run with the Lakers trying to make the playoffs than to push it and play today”.

Given LeBron James’ late announcement, no player is scheduled to replace him on Team Shaq’s roster for the All-Star game. As a result, not many are choosing to sympathize with the player at the moment. Many of them are even speaking out, even as the All-Star game gets underway.

Draymond Green and 2 former NBA players take a shot at LeBron James over last-minute retreat: “coulda helped somebody else”

The timing of LeBron James’ announcement didn’t leave enough minutes for some people to absorb the news. Fortunately, since he was covering the event instead of playing in it, Draymond Green discussed the absence in length. He had some experienced voices guiding his discussion. After all, 8x NBA All-Star Vince Carter and former Indiana Pacers player Jalen Rose also joined the TNT segment. The Warriors star revealed that he wasn’t too surprised by the All-Time Scoring Leader’s revelation. After all, Green stated, “I just know he’s been dealing with that [ankle soreness]. He took a couple of games off last week. … It’s kinda expected.”

Therefore, the veteran power forward wasn’t mad about the injury. He was upset that LeBron James could have said something sooner. After all, if Joe Biden stepping down so late into the race told us anything, it is that some breathing time could prove beneficial.

“I think [LeBron James] coulda helped somebody else out and said this earlier…” said Green. Vince Carter agreed, and added, “There are a lot of guys who are worthy.” Jalen Rose did not hold back in his criticism and straight out said, “He took a roster spot from somebody.”

Team Shaq was the favorite to win the All-Star game until a few hours ago. Now, anything can happen. Whether LeBron James’ absence will hurt the team is something that remains to be seen.