LeBron James calls Lakers' playoff push '23 of the most important video games of my profession'

SALT LAKE CITY-- Reflecting on twenty years in the NBA, LeBron James has no scarcity of essential seasons and sequences that specified his profession.

However coming up, the 38-year-old seems to think the last stretch of games this season will define him, too.

Speaking ahead of his 19th All-Star video game look on Sunday afternoon, James worried the seriousness the 27-32 Lakers face trying to climb from 13th in the Western Conference back into the playoffs for the very first time considering that 2021.

" It's 23 of the most important games of my profession for a routine season," he stated. "It's the type of frame of mind that I have, and I hope the guys will have, coming back off the break."

While James' selection as an All-Star captain for Sunday's game was a pointer of his still-towering stature within the NBA world, he and his group have still been searching for at many of the league near the bottom of the standings. The Lakers have actually been scrapping given that the start of the season (following a 2-10 start) and haven't remained in even play-in position for the majority of the year.

The team's trades-- most prominently landing the D'Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt who all started in the last video game before the break-- have actually triggered some sense of hope for the franchise, even as they sit 2 video games out of 10th location with 23 games remaining. The Lakers had the advantage of winning their Wednesday video game versus the New Orleans Pelicans conveniently, which James said was nice to see, but that he wished the group might have kept playing rather than getting time off.

" The worst thing for us is that we had to go on a break," he stated. "I would have enjoyed if we might have played Friday and got a couple of games under our belt due to the fact that it's the first time our whole group was together from top to bottom."

The time off, however, might be best for James. He missed out on 3 straight games with a left foot injury that he and the group have stated isn't any structural problem, but has actually hurt and needed close monitoring.

He spent numerous days with his other half, Savannah James, on retreat, including a trip to Antelope Canyon in Arizona. The trip was a break for his foot. James said he would aim to be readily available in each of the final 23 games to make sure the Lakers make it to the playoffs.

" This number of days has actually helped, not having to stress it being out on the flooring," he stated. "So it's assisted. I'm going to attempt not to go too crazy in the (All Star) video game. ... The most essential thing for me today is to preserve my health and be readily available to my colleagues after this break due to the fact that we have to make a strong push if we wish to do anything unique."

James previously staked his belief that he would be back in the NBA's postseason nearly a year earlier, as he saw the playoffs from home: "I can/will NOT miss the post season once again for my profession! This (curse) HURT." By the end of December, with the Lakers struggling in the standings, he had quietly deleted the tweet.

But James, who went to 8 straight Finals and made 9 Finals in a 10-year span, knows he's being judged on the end of his profession. While the undeniable peak of his five-year Laker stint is the 2020 championship when he won Finals MVP, James has actually missed the playoffs two times in his previous 4 seasons, and the Lakers didn't advance out of the preliminary in 2021.

James has actually never ever missed back-to-back postseasons-- and he does not prepare to.

" I don't wish to see myself not belonging to the postseason for 2 years straight-- it's just not part of my DNA," he stated. "We're sitting up here speaking about the record and things of that nature, and that's all cool, but I'm more passionate about trying to make the postseason and offer ourselves an opportunity to complete for another Larry O'Brien Trophy."

It was less than 2 weeks back when James became the NBA's all-time leading scorer in a game against Oklahoma City, passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. In his press conference, James claimed that he isn't one to "bask in my accomplishments," adding: "I'm really strange when it comes to celebrating myself.

When the NBA prepared to honor James for the third time in the two-week span, the words sounded a little hollow on a night. However James said the moment that stood out to him was seeing his daughter, Zhuri James, respond live to his basket, cheering, shaking her fists and clapping excitedly.

" It's hard for me to stop viewing that since viewing Zhuri's reaction to that is, like, the greatest-- it's so cool," he stated. "If I'm having a bad day, I know precisely where I can go to fix my day."

James likewise touched on his post-career strategies, chuckling that he won't play another 20 years after this season. He's stated prior to, slightly tongue-in-cheek, that he wants to own a team in Las Vegas if the NBA ever broadens. But he struck an earnest tone when discussing the possibility on Sunday: James, just recently called a billionaire by Forbes, would be simply the 2nd former NBA player ever to own a group if he can pull it off one day.

" I see myself being a part of the game even when I'm done playing," he said, touching on his involvement with Fenway Sports Group. "Ownership is something I'm a part of now off the court in a great deal of things that I do. To be able to equate that to the video game of basketball, I seem like I might return to this video game in a lot of styles, even when I'm not in uniform, that could benefit the sport.

" I would enjoy to at some point down the roadway own an NBA franchise and have the ability to bring a winning franchise to a city," James included. "Like I said, Vegas is an actually cool city, and they're doing some terrific things in sports nowadays."