LeBron James has made a point of avoiding back-to-back seasons without an NBA Playoffs appearance since his inaugural two campaigns and the Los Angeles Lakers stalwart is determined to maintain that streak in the current season.
But the 38-year-old playmaker, who became the NBA's all-time scoring leader earlier this month, has been nagged by ailments and couldn't even escape Sunday's NBA All-Star Game without an injury.
James sat out the second half after hurting his right hand as Team LeBron lost to Team Giannis Antetokounmpo 184-175, the first defeat for James in six times as an All-Star captain.
"I got my finger caught in the rim, but I'll be fine," James said. "I don't think it's too much to worry about, but for precautionary reasons, I just had to take the rest of the night off."
James, who also missed three games with a left foot injury before making a comeback last Wednesday, had just said before the game how important his health would be as he tries to lift the Lakers into the playoffs over the next two months.
"The most important thing for me right now is to maintain my health and be available to my teammates after this break because we have to make a strong push if we want to do anything special," James said.
"It's 23 of the most important games of my career for a regular season."
The Lakers have struggled to a 27-32 start and rank 13th in the Western Conference.
That's two games behind Oklahoma City for 10th and the last spot in the post-season play-in games and 3.5 games behind sixth-place Dallas for the final guaranteed playoff spot.
"I want to push to make the playoffs," James said. "I don't want to see myself not being part of the post-season for two years straight. It's just not part of my DNA."
"We're sitting up here talking about the record and things of that nature, and that's all cool, but I'm more passionate about trying to make the post-season and give ourselves a chance to compete for another (title)."
James was the top overall NBA Draft pick by Cleveland in 2003. He was the 2004 NBA Rookie of the Year and reached his first NBA All-Star Game in 2005 but the Cavaliers missed the playoffs both seasons – the only time James missed consecutive NBA playoffs so far.
James reached the post-season from 2006 through 2018, winning NBA titles with Miami in 2012 and 2013 and Cleveland in 2016, and taking another in 2020 after missing the post-season with the Lakers in 2019.
The Lakers missed the playoffs last season after going 33-49 and need a charge to avoid another flop.
"I hope I can figure out a way to make sure that I'm available on the floor every night for these 23 games to give us a chance," James said.
"I've always been confident in any club that I've been on, once we got into the playoffs, that we can compete with anyone and I feel no different now."
The Lakers made significant moves in the supporting cast for James 10 days ago, adding guard D'Angelo Russell, center Mo Bamba guards Malik Beasley and Davon Reed, and forward Jarred Vanderbilt to go with Japan's Rui Hachimura.
"With the roster the way we're shaped up right now, if we can finish this regular season on the right foot, then we can compete versus anyone in the Western Conference, if not the whole league," James said.
"It's going to take a lot of commitment ... but yeah, I feel like if we can punch our ticket, we can compete versus anyone."
