On June 12, 2002, the Los Angeles Lakers Kobe Bryant, Lindsay Hunter and Shaquille O’Neal lifted the championship trophy after winning Game 4 of the NBA Finals at the Meadowlands.
Los Angeles Lakers veteran LeBron James missed his 18th game of the season on Tuesday night against the San Antonio Spurs. This means he is no longer eligible for the end-of-season award because he did not meet the 65-game minimum requirement to qualify for All-NBA honors.
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The Lakers play the defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday. James has played back-to-back games just twice this season, and all four games came within a single week in January.
Earlier this season, James said each back-to-back game was “TBD” because he needed to avoid physical strain. in his latest episode Attention game During the podcast, James explained that playing 82 games in today’s NBA isn’t as easy as it was in the 1980s and 1990s.
“The game is different. I hope people and our fans understand that playing 82 games in the ’80s and ’90s is different than playing 82 games in the 2020s. That’s not the case,” LeBron said. “The way we play, the pace, the speed, it’s a different game now. It’s a completely different game.”
James said that the NBA in previous decades was known for physical quality, while the current NBA is known for faster pace and faster transitions.
Former Lakers champion Lindsay Hunter disagrees with James
A former NBA player echoed James’ statement that the pace of the league today is faster than in past decades. Two-time NBA champion and former Lakers guard (2001-02) Lindsey Hunter disputes that claim, saying the pace was actually faster in the ’80s and ’90s.
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“First of all, the pace is not faster. If you look back at the ’80s and ’90s, the pace was much faster. I think the 2020s are probably fifth in terms of pace. Fifth. So that’s a lie.” Hunter said on the “Crossover” podcast.
Hunter is right. Currently, the pace for the 2025-26 NBA season is 99.5, and the league has yet to reach triple-digit pace during James’ projected career 2018-19 (100.0) and 2019-20 (100.3) seasons.
The NBA began to accelerate in the 1973-74 season. From then until 1988-89, the pace never dipped below triple digits, with a projected 99.6 for 1987-88. But even in that season, the pace was still faster than it is today.
Hunter attended NBA games in the 1980s and then played in the league from 1993 to 2010. He played for the Lakers in the 2001-02 season and won an NBA championship with team legends Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal.
June 12, 2002; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; (L-R) Los Angeles Lakers Kobe Bryant, Lindsey Hunter and Shaquille O’Neal hold up the championship trophy after winning Game 4 of the NBA Finals at the Meadowlands. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports
Photo credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports
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The former Lakers champion took a swipe at LeBron James during Game 82 first appeared on Los Angeles Sports Reporter.
