Another milestone streak is ending for LeBron James.
James, the 41-year-old Los Angeles Lakers icon, will miss his 18th game of the 2025-26 regular season on Tuesday, Feb. 10, officially making him ineligible for individual awards and All-NBA honors.
This snaps a streak that is practically incomprehensible, of 21 consecutive appearances on All-NBA teams.
Put another way: this will mark the first time since the 2004 offseason — three years before the release of the first-ever iPhone — that the All-NBA teams will not feature James.
The Lakers are set to host the San Antonio Spurs Tuesday, and the team is listing James as being out with left foot arthritis.
James had previously indicated that he would not be playing the back ends of back-to-back games for the rest of the season, needing to manage the strain on his body.
Tuesday’s game is the second leg of a back-to-back, after Los Angeles dropped a game Monday, Feb. 9, against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
James had missed the first 14 games of the season with a right sciatica nerve issue, eventually making his debut Nov. 18 in a game against the Utah Jazz.
The time sidelined with the sciatica issue cast doubt on his ability to reach the minimum threshold of 65 games for postseason award eligibility, especially because of James’ approach to back-to-backs.
James ranks first all-time in All-NBA selections, which is six more than the three players tied for second-most: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan. James’ 13 first-team selections are two more than the players with the second-most first-team selections, Bryant and Karl Malone.
Even if James were eligible for postseason awards, however, it would’ve been a stretch for him to make the lists; James is averaging 21.8 points, 6.9 assists and 5.7 rebounds per game, which is unprecedented for someone his age, but may be insufficient for All-NBA nods.
