Episode Details

The All-Star Game lost one potential Laker when Anthony Davis was traded to Dallas. (Luka Dončić wasn't going to play thank to the games he missed to injury.) 

Relatively late in the afternoon on Sunday, LeBron James announced he wouldn't be playing, taking the time to rest his bothersome foot and ankle instead. 

"“I was hoping that it would feel a lot better this morning, but it’s not where I want it to be... And with 30 games left and with us trying to make a playoff push in the wild, wild, West, I feel like it’s very important for me to kind of take care of myself and understand what’s coming on," James said. “So, I won’t say it’s maintenance, but it is maintenance,” he said. “At the same time, I have to look out for myself when it comes to this to this injury I’ve been dealing with for years.”

So on the one hand, sad for the NBA and for fans, who have been watching him play in every game since 2004. (That, sidenote, is a stunning bit of trivia.) On the other... this is a good thing for the Lakers. Yes, it means LeBron is nursing an injury, but we knew that. And likely, doing whatever it is they do in modern ASGs wasn't going to hurt him, but why risk it? James is prioritizing the final 30 games of the season. Ultimately, he needed the break to get his body right. Unrelated to All-Star, obviously, Luka noted last week that he needed a mental and physical break. 

All of this is a reminder that the Lakers seem to have a lot more to play for than they did in game 25. Not that they're favorites in the conference—that honor still obviously goes to the Thunder—but given how wide open the West is, the way the Lakers have played in the last month or so, pushing themselves well up into the top 6 gives them as good a shot as everyone else. Assuming, of course, the two stars are the best versions of themselves. Luka needs to round back into form after missing almost two months. LeBron needs to find ways to keep it, physically. 

But whether James or the other guys on the team, you get the sense that they're no longer having to play mental games to convince themselves that the spring could bring meaningful basketball. That's a big shift, and something to be excited about coming out of the break. 

HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky

SEGMENT 1: LeBron sits out the All Star Game. 

SEGMENT 2: The NBA needs to get offline. 

SEGMENT 3: The Hornets seem to be giving up on the Mark Williams trade. 

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