Recently, LeBron James had some smoke for the NBA in light of all the injuries that have been sustained in the playoffs. Anthony Davis went down for the Lakers in the first round, and in the second round, players like Kyrie Irving and Kawhi Leonard have had to leave the court. As LeBron noted, the offseason was simply too short and the schedule was too condensed. Many players have stated that this is the reason for all of the injuries this season, and now, fans are feeling short-changed as some of their favorite players can’t even compete with their teams during the most important time of the season.
Over the weekend, TMZ caught up with Shannon Sharpe, who typically finds himself agreeing with everything LeBron does. However, on this occasion, Sharpe disagreed with LeBron when it comes to his criticism of the NBA. As Sharpe notes, the players accepted the conditions of the season and that money was always their ultimate desire.
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“Look, the NBA wanted to recoup some money, they were in a pandemic and lost money, but the players wanted to get those paychecks,” Sharpe said. “They couldn’t play without the NBA and the [NBA Players Association] agreeing. So, everybody’s equally culpable because they needed the money and the players wanted the paycheck. It is what it is.”
Heading into next season, the NBA will be returning to normalcy, so perhaps the injuries will take a bit of a step back. We were robbed of some great playoff matchups this year although the unpredictability of the 2021 postseason has certainly been refreshing.
[Via]