LeBron James says the abrupt shutdown of the NBA season due to the worldwide coronavirus pandemic has left the Los Angeles Lakers feeling like they still have something to prove.
The Lakers were in
the midst of a revival season, having made the playoffs for the first time in
seven years, when the league suspended the 2019-20 season on March 11 after
Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19.
At the time of the
postponement, the Lakers were in first place in the Western Conference and had
the second-best record in the league behind Milwaukee. If the season doesn’t
resume, James says there will be a void.
“Closure? No. But
to be proud of what we were able to accomplish to this point, I’ll be able to
look back and say we did something special in that small period of time,” James
said during a conference call with reporters on Wednesday.
“Just the ups and
downs not only on the floor but off the floor everything that we’ve had to
endure as Laker faithful.”
James said he’s
having trouble coming to grips with the scale of the pandemic, which has so far
killed more than 14,700 people in the US, including almost 200 in his home
state of Ohio.
“How do you assess
what’s going on over the last three weeks or however long this pandemic has
been going on? It’s unnatural,” James said.
“It’s something
that’s never happened before. Some of you guys are older than me, probably
never seen this happen before. You just kind of take all the information you
have on a day-to-day basis.”
He has been
spending his self-isolating time practising basketball with his son Bronny and
talking on the phone with teammates and Lakers coach Frank Vogel.
“I got a couple
friends that have their own indoor facilities,” James said of his training
sessions with his son. “They strip it down, wipe it down. It’s pretty much me
in there along with my son. It’s just us.”
He wants to get
back to basketball but adds it will be up to the experts to decide when. NBA
commissioner Adam Silver said this week he doesn’t expect a decision on whether
they can salvage the season until at least May.
“Once they allow us
to resume some type of activity, I would love to get things back going,” James
said. “If it’s Las Vegas or somewhere else that can hold us and keep us in the
best possible chance to be safe, not only on the floor but off the floor as
well. Those conversations will be had.”