LeBron James Responds To Shutdown Reports: ‘We Would Like To Finish Our Season’

LeBron James isn’t buying reports that some NBA executives and agents are calling for the league to cancel its season.

James, 35, took to Twitter Thursday to emphatically maintain that the players want to continue playing. The NBA was the first major pro sports league to suspend operations due to the pandemic on March 11, and it remains unclear when, or if, the league will resume.

“Saw some reports about execs and agents wanting to cancel season???” James Tweeted. “That’s absolutely not true. Nobody I know saying anything like that. As soon as it’s safe we would like to finish our season. I’m ready and our team is ready. Nobody should be canceling anything.”

James and the Lakers had the best record in the Western Conference at 49-14 when the league shut down last month, and were among a short-list of favorites to win the Larry O’Brien Trophy.

A CNBC report from Thursday paraphrased several executives and agents as saying “team owners are concerned with liability issues and are conflicted about whether or not to give up on the current season.”

The report said one Western Conference team “has already lost roughly $50 million this season and doesn’t have much incentive to restart the season anymore.”

Warriors coach Steve Kerr has said his team feels as if there’s no incentive to continue playing. Golden State owns the NBA’s worst record at 15-50 and remains in the mix for the No. 1 pick in the Draft, which may not happen until August or September.

“The suspension came at an interesting time, and it really made a difference, depending on where your team stood in the standings,” Kerr said. “So I’ve talked to some of my fellow coaches who are coaching teams that are right in the thick of the playoff hunt. They’re trying desperately to stay in touch with their team, some of them are even doing group workouts on Zoom with their training staff, and they’re trying to find hoops for their players to shoot at where they’re able to do so.

“It’s different for us because we were down to 17 games, but we were out of the playoffs. It feels like the end of the season for our team. It just does.”

Still, several team owners or execs have come out to say they expect games to be continued at some point.

“I’m cautiously optimistic we’ll be able to finish the season for television. I don’t think we’ll have fans,” Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said on CNN. “I hate to put odds on it, but I’m cautiously optimistic. But this virus isn’t giving us any information to help us.”

After a call with team presidents, Spurs CEO R.C. Buford said, “Every intention is to return to play,” according to the San Antonio Express-News.

A third NBA executive told Forbes SportsMoney there was “a lot of uncertainty,” but that he was glad NBA practice facilities are opening May 8 on a limited basis “for the mental health of the players and some of the employees.”

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has said he won’t support games being played until he gets an all-clear from health officials. At this point, there is not expected to be a coronavirus vaccine until sometime in 2021.

“I think there is still too much uncertainty at this point to say precisely how we move forward,” Silver told reporters on a conference call April 17, per ESPN.com. “I’ll add that the underlying principle remains the health and well-being of NBA players and everyone involved. We begin with that as paramount.”