LeBron James will not play tonight against the San Antonio Spurs, making the Lakers star ineligible for postseason awards and ending his run making the All-NBA team at 21.
Under the current NBA rules, players must appear in 65 games to be eligible for awards. James can now play in a maximum of 64 games if he does not sit out another.
The previous record for making All-NBA teams was 15, which was held by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan.
The Lakers will also be holding out NBA scoring leader Luka Doncic (left hamstring strain) for the third straight game, along with Austin Reaves (left calf injury management) and Marcus Smart (right ankle).
James is playing in his unprecedented 23rd season. He missed the first 14 games because of sciatica after not participating in training camp. He has played in back-to-back games at times since getting healthy, but the Lakers have monitored his health closely in hopes of keeping him fresh for the stretch run.
James is averaging 21.7 points, 6.9 assists and 5.7 rebounds over 34 games this season. The Lakers (32-20) are in the thick of the West playoff race despite having James, Doncic and Reaves all in the same lineup for just 10 games so far this season.
Associated Press and nba.com contributed to this report.
