Lakers' LeBron James Ineligible for NBA Awards After Being Ruled Out With Injury vs. Wemby, Spurs

If the 2025-26 season is the last for LeBron James, injuries may be one of the storylines of his swan song.

The 41-year-old star will miss his 18th game on Tuesday against the San Antonio Spurs due to left foot arthritis, making him ineligible for awards and All-NBA honors.

James missed the entire preseason and the first 14 games of this regular season with sciatica, a fairly sizable absence for a player who appeared in 70 games last season and 71 the year before. James' career has been marked by both durability and longevity, even if injuries have understandably taken a larger toll as his career has progressed.

When healthy, however, he remains effective, averaging 21.8 points, 6.9 assists and 5.7 rebounds per game. The Lakers are clearly Luka Dončić's team now—and Austin Reaves continues to be a revelation as well when healthy—but any championship aspirations the Lakers have are heavily reliant on James continuing to operate at a high level.

That makes any potential injury a concern. The Lakers do have decent depth and have utilized players like Marcus Smart and Jake LaRavia in the starting lineup at times, while newly acquired guard Luke Kennard could see his role increase if James is forced to miss future time.

On Tuesday, however, the Lakers are going to be extremely undermanned against a very good Spurs team.