The 2022 NBA playoffs don’t feature either team from the city of Los Angeles. While the Clippers were able to make it to the play-in tournament before injuries and a COVID-19 absence by Paul George caught up to them, the Lakers were stuck in a season-long malaise and missed out on making the postseason altogether.
For LeBron James, this marked the second time during his four-year stint in the City of Angels where he had to watch the playoffs from his living room — his first season saw L.A. miss out entirely before the offseason overhaul that led to them acquiring Anthony Davis. James, who is among the league’s most prolific posters, has spent these playoffs watching games and tweeting out his thoughts, and they’re usually a celebration of the players in the game he is watching.
That was once again the case on Friday night, when James watched Game 3 between the Atlanta Hawks and one of his old teams, the Miami Heat. After praising ESPN’s J.J. Redick in the booth, James mentioned that he’s not exactly having a good time watching the postseason play out and swore that this is the last time he’ll sit at home until he calls it a career.
I can/will NOT miss the post season again for my career! This shit HURT. Ok back to watching these games.
— LeBron James (@KingJames) April 23, 2022
The Lakers were the first team in the Western Conference to miss out on the play-in tournament, as they were one game behind the 10-seed San Antonio Spurs. As for an automatic berth in the playoffs, Los Angeles finished 15 games behind the 6-seed Denver Nuggets. Between COVID absences and injuries, James only played in 56 games on the year, while Davis appeared in 40.