NBPA director claps back at LeBron James for criticizing compressed season schedule

Lebron James has been very outspoken about the decision for a compressed 2020-21 NBA season and received a response from NBPA director Michele Roberts.

It was around this time last summer when the talks surfaced about the NBA and its resumed 2019-2020 season bubble play due to the global pandemic.

All things considered, it was a pretty successful experiment. One of the only downsides, depending on who you ask, was the extended dates of that season which concluded with the Lakers defeating the Heat in the finals on October 11, 2020.

Rather than use the normal period of rest in the offseason, the league office opted for a Christmas 2020 start date with 10 fewer regular season games and a new playoff format.

NBAPA director Michele Roberts had a response for LeBron James

The Lebron-led Lakers were among the teams on short rest, and also among the teams who were dealt a number of injuries throughout the 2020-21 season. James was outspoken about this both before and after the season, recently saying he, “knew exactly what would happen”.

The playoffs especially showed the likes of big stars such as James’ teammate Anthony Davis suffer impactful injuries along with Kawhi Leonard, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and James Harden. Kyrie Irving and Trae Young also suffered meaningful injuries, but both were due in part to contact from opposing players and a referee.

NBA Players Association Director Michele Roberts called this season a success given the global pandemic, but despite the injuries to some of the NBA’s biggest names.

"“I believe we had a protocol in place that gave us the best chance, but I didn’t know,” Roberts said. “I’d say secondly, that not only that we completed, we didn’t complete it with a bunch of [bad] games. We completed it with some great competition. And so I could not be happier.”"

While there’s no official start date, the plan for the NBA 2021-22 regular to begin is in mid-October, the traditional start time for the season. Game 7 of the Finals, if necessary, is scheduled for July 22. This would leave roughly three months of off-season rest, just one month fewer than the usual time period.

This offseason will also be shorter for those taking part in Team USA Basketball this summer for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. Preparations began earlier this month, with competitions for Olympic Basketball is set for July 24-Aug 7.

Lebron James will not be participating with Team USA in the 2021 Olympics.