LeBron James ended his 23rd NBA regular season on a high note, averaging 24 points, 9.7 assists and 6 rebounds per game over the past week.
A heavier burden fell on James to close out the Los Angeles Lakers‘ 2025-26 regular season as both Luka Doncic (hamstring) and Austin Reaves (oblique) are sidelined with injuries. The 41-year-old NBA veteran stepped up in a big way, leading his team to victory in each of their final three games.
On Monday, one day after the Lakers’ season-finale victory over the Utah Jazz, the NBA announced James as the Western Conference Player of the Week.
This most recent announcement marks the 70th time in James’ career that he’s earned player of the week honors.
The Lakers took to social media to react to this achievement.
“LEBRON. JAMES. Your 70-TIME Player of the Week,” the team wrote on X.
The Lakers secured the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference with a 53-29 regular-season record. Throughout the course of his entire 23rd NBA season, James averaged 20.9 points, 7.2 assists, 6.1 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game — shooting 51.5% from the field.
James is operating as the Lakers’ first option with both Doncic and Reaves out. Both Doncic and Reaves, the team’s two leading scorers, suffered injuries in an April 7 loss to the reigning-champion Oklahoma City Thunder. Both of these star players could miss the entirety of Los Angeles’ first-round playoff matchup and the No. 5 seed Houston Rockets.
“I had to tap back into a role that I’ve been accustomed to in the past, but obviously it wasn’t what it was this year. But circumstances have put me back in, and I’m just trying to feed up my teammates, teammates feeding off of me and just trying to make things happen for us to stay afloat,” James said of being the Lakers’ No. 1 option.
James and the Lakers will tip off against Kevin Durant and the Rockets in a Game 1 matchup on Saturday night.