LeBron out vs. Spurs, ruling him ineligible for season awards
LeBron James' 21-year All-NBA streak will end this season.
The Los Angeles Lakers announced that James will miss Tuesday's matchup against the San Antonio Spurs due to arthritis in his left foot. The absence will be his 18th of the season, meaning that he can't meet the 65-game requirement to be eligible for the NBA's end-of-season awards, including the All-NBA teams.
James has been named to one of the All-NBA teams each of the the last 21 seasons, dating back to his sophomore year with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
He missed the first 14 games of the 2025-26 campaign while recovering from sciatica, quickly putting his streak at risk. James had made 17 consecutive appearances before being ruled out Tuesday.
The 41-year-old has totaled an NBA-record 13 first-team selections over his 23-year career. He's been featured on the second and third teams four times each.
The four-time MVP reached a 22-year streak in All-Star selections earlier in February, though this is the first year he's been voted in as a reserve. James said earlier this month that maintaining his All-Star status wasn't his focus while recovering from injury at the start of the season.
"I just wanted to get back to playing the game at a high level I knew I was capable of once I kind of worked the rust off of missing preseason, training camp, my summer workouts, which I've never done in my whole career," James told reporters after being voted in. "So I didn't think about the All-Star Game, to be honest."
James is averaging 21.8 points, 6.9 assists, 5.7 rebounds, and 1.1 steals through 35 games.