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LeBron’s streak of 13-straight playoff appearances and eight-straight NBA Finals will likely come to an end this season. What about his 11-season streak as a first team All-NBA selection?
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Steve Aschburner: Well, the two best forwards in the NBA this season have been Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and Oklahoma City’s Paul George. After that, you can make arguments on behalf of Golden State’s Kevin Durant and Detroit’s Blake Griffin. Then there is Toronto’s Kawhi Leonard, who has missed about the same number of games as James but whose Raptors team is about 17 games better in the standings. It’s possible LeBron will stay as motivated as he looked Tuesday in Chicago (36 points, 10 rebounds) and put up some flashy numbers down the stretch. But they’ll come in games that essentially mean nothing, and there are too many rivals over whom he must climb, in too little time. Yes, this streak’s over too.
Tas Melas: The All-NBA first team run is one of the many impressive LeBron streaks which will end this season (my favorite is Top-5 in MVP voting for 13 straight seasons). Giannis Antetokounmpo is on the first team. Kevin Durant will likely join him, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see Paul George join my Greek brother. One of KD or PG will be on the second team with LeBron, but ‘Bron will be in a battle with Kawhi Leonard and Blake Griffin for that other spot.
Shaun Powell: That will come to an end, too. It has been a forgettable season for LeBron, because you can tack on the semi-serious groin injury as well. So many things — bad things — happened to him this season to make it a turning point in his career, should the following seasons disappoint as well. This is somewhat “new” to him, and for us as well. We’ll see how the playoffs fare without him.
John Schuhmann: It’s done, and it’s possible that he doesn’t even make the second team. As things stand now, I would have four forwards — Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kevin Durant, Paul George and Kawhi Leonard — ahead of James on my All-NBA ballot. And it seems doubtful that James, with the Lakers playing out the string and the other four forwards all contributing (on both ends of the floor) to much better teams, can replace any of them in the final month of the season.
Sekou Smith: All of LeBron’s streaks come to an end. The playoffs, Finals and, yes, that first team All-NBA streak he’s kept in a vice grip all these years. There’s no shame in falling back this season. I’m not one to knock LeBron this season, even though I know it’s the convenient thing for some people to do. This break from LeBron ruining the NBA narrative from training camp to The Finals will be interesting. If anyone has earned the time it’s LeBron. The time away will do wonders for his mental and physical well being, not to mention serve as the great motivator for the 34-year-old veteran who needs something to crank his engine during the offseason.
