Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James and Boston Celtics forward Jaylen Brown have been named the NBA Western and Eastern Conference Players of the Week, respectively, for Week 19 of the 2023-24 season (Feb. 26 – March 3).
The other nominees in the West were Luka Dončić (DAL), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (OKC), Brandon Ingram (NOP), Nikola Jokić (DEN) and Victor Wembanyama (SAS) while the other nominees in the East were Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler (MIA), Giannis Antetokounmpo (MIL), Paolo Banchero (ORL), Tyrese Maxey (PHI), Evan Mobley (CLE) and Jayson Tatum (BOS).
This is a well-deserved honor for James, who is coming off a whirlwind of a week. James led the Lakers to a 2-1 record from Feb. 26 through March 3, coming back to beat the L.A. Clippers and Washington Wizards before losing to the Denver Nuggets.
In the Clippers game, the Lakers found themselves trailing by 21 in the fourth quarter before James went nuclear with five 3-pointers to bring his team back. LeBron outscored the Clippers by himself in the fourth quarter and finished the game with 34 points, six rebounds and eight assists while shooting 7-for-12 from deep.
James then returned to the court just 24 hours later in the second game of a back-to-back. The Lakers struggled for much of the night and needed overtime to beat the lowly Wizards, although LeBron had 31 points, four rebounds and nine assists.
To cap off the week, James reached a milestone that’s never been done before, crossing 40,000 points on Saturday night against the Nuggets. LeBron had 26 points, four rebounds and nine assists in that game although it was a disappointing loss for the Lakers, who could not cap off a perfect week by beating the defending champions.
Still though, James had an exceptional week where he averaged 30.3 points, 4.7 rebounds, 8.7 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.0 blocks in three games to take home Western Conference Player of the Week honors for the 68th time in his illustrious career.
Given where the Lakers are at in the standings, they have needed the 39-year-old to play at an extremely high level on a nightly basis and James has been able to do that in the 21st season of his career.
LeBron James calls reaching 40,000 points in loss ‘bittersweet’
Even though LeBron James and the Lakers celebrated him reaching 40,000 career points, the mood was dampened a bit with it coming in another loss to the Nuggets.
It feels like the Lakers have lost on a lot of the nights that James has set records and reached milestones, and he admitted that the feeling after the loss to Denver was ‘bittersweet’ for him.
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