Lakers’ James named All-NBA third team
While the Lakers underachieved this season, LeBron James pushed the limits of what a 37-year-old can do in the NBA.
The league named James a third-team All-NBA forward on Tuesday evening, the 18th all-league honor of James’ 19-year career. James spent much of the season neck-andneck with Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmpo for the NBA scoring title, eventually falling short but finishing with a 30.3 ppg mark — his highest since 2006.
James bested his own mark for most All-NBA career selections. He’s now been a third-team honoree twice, his other third-team nod coming in 2019. James received 54 third-team votes, 35-second-team votes and two first-team votes from a panel of NBA observers. He was the second-leading votegetter on the third team to Minnesota’s Karl-Anthony Towns.
As a team, the Lakers finished out of the postseason with a 33-49 record. James’ biggest shortcoming was availability: He played just 56 games while struggling with various injuries. After the season was over in April, he lamented failing to translate a season of All-NBA-caliber play into more wins.
“Winning is everything to me,” he said. “And the fact that I was playing the way that I was playing and it wasn’t resulting in wins, it just wasn’t enough. So the frustration level was definitely at a high at times cause you’re just trying to figure out how I can be better, how the team can be better.”
Still, James put up unprecedented production for a player his age. No one has ever averaged more points in his age-37 season, and had James played two more games, he might have been able to challenge Embiid for his second career scoring title.
Along the way, James made history, too: He became the first 37-year-old to have multiple 50-point games in the same season (he notched both within the same week in March).
Milwaukee forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, fellow two-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic (Denver), Dallas’ Luka Doncic, Phoenix’s Devin Booker and Boston’s Jayson Tatum were voted to the first team, the first time in 67 years all five players were 27 or younger.
Philadelphia center Joel Embiid, the NBA’s leading scorer and runner-up to Jokic for MVP, led the second team. He was joined by Memphis point guard Ja Morant, winner of the Most Improved Player award, Brooklyn forward Kevin Durant, Golden State guard Steph Curry and Chicago forward DeMar DeRozan.
Phoenix point guard Chris Paul, Atlanta guard Trae Young and Toronto forward Pascal Siakam joined James and Towns on the third team. BULLS’ LAVINE HAS KNEE SURGERY » Chicago’s Zach Lavine underwent left knee arthroscopic surgery on Tuesday and the team said it was successful and he is expected to make a full recovery.