LeBron James Would Not Have Played If The Lakers Extended The Series: Suffered An Injury In Game 5

LeBron James has played in 292 playoff games in his career, resulting in four championships and 10 Finals appearances. This year, James' playoff run was cut short in a loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, but he would not have played even if the Los Angeles Lakers had managed to extend the series.

"Had the Lakers extended their series with the Wolves for Game 6 tonight in Minnesota, they would be without James, and James’ record streak of 292 straight playoff games without sitting out would have been snapped," wrote Dave McMenamin on Friday.

In his 21-year career, LeBron has never missed a playoff game, but the streak would have surely been snapped with a Lakers win in Game 5. According to reports, James suffered a Grade 2 MCL sprain in Tuesday's game that would have cost him the series.

"LeBron James suffered a Grade 2 MCL sprain in his left knee from his collision with Donte DiVincenzo in Wednesday’s Game 5," wrote McMenamin. "The injury entails a 3-5 week recovery timeline."

The Lakers claim that a collision with Donte DiVincenzo is how James got injured and that there was almost no scenario where he would have played again in the series. If so, it would have been virtually impossible for the Lakers to complete a 3-1 comeback against the Timberwolves.

On social media, fans were less than sympathetic toward James. Many of them condemned LeBron for "making excuses" while others called the whole story a lie.

"Fakest sh*t ever bro does anyone believe this PR stunt," wrote one fan on X.

LeBron seemingly always has an excuse after losing in the playoffs, and many fans are tired of seeing LeBron not take accountability for his role in the defeat.

"Ah, the injury excuse after the retirement conversation, a tale as old as time," wrote one fan.

In defense of LeBron, some fans pointed out that his injury would have only really affected the Lakers for one game, disputing the injury excuse accusations.

"The people calling this an excused injury ignoring that it came in game five and wouldn’t serve any such purpose are funny lol," via Anthony Irwin on X.

This situation draws a lot of similarities to the 2018 NBA Finals. After losing the series in a 4-0 sweep, James showed up to the post-game press conference wearing a brace on his right hand. James revealed that he punched a whiteboard after Game 1 and played the next three games with a broken hand. Of course, LeBron didn't reveal the injury until after they lost the series, and fans question its legitimacy to this day.

At 40 years old, going into his 23rd season, LeBron James is expected to make a full recovery, and his standards remain high for how he wants the Lakers to compete going forward. In the 2025-26 campaign, James will be an integral part of what the Lakers are building, and he'll need to be healthy to lead the Lakers to his fifth NBA championship.

Fortunately, LeBron will have an entire summer to get right, during which Rob Pelinka will be working behind the scenes to build the best roster possible. With James and Luka at the helm, the Lakers are poised for another competitive season, and it starts by moving on from this year's disastrous campaign.