NBA playoffs 2024 -- Never been harder for LeBron, Steph - ESPN

Sunday afternoon after a valuable victory for the Los Angeles Lakers in New Orleans, LeBron James asked aloud how many games he ended up playing in his just-concluded 21st NBA regular season.

The answer was officially 71, but really 72 if counting the in-season tournament championship game which awkwardly isn't counted. That's 16 (17, unofficially) more games than last season and the most in his six-year tenure with the Lakers.

James shook his head in satisfaction.

«That's pretty cool,» James said. «At this point in my career to play 70-plus games and be available for my guys.»

This is reality. To be 39 years old, the oldest active player in the league, and dealing with some chronic injuries to his left ankle and right foot and long-term maintenance of other areas such as his lower back, to play that many games is indeed cool.

The Lakers finished the regular season 47-35, four games better than last season, and James thought that was pretty good, too.

«To end the season 12 games over .500, 13 if you count the championship of in-season tournament, for everything we went through,» James said, «it's a pretty good season for us.»

This is reality, too. The Lakers finished the season winning 13 of their last 18 games and slipped into eighth in the West at the finish line after spending months stuck in ninth or lower.

But for James, reality is easily skewed. He doesn't live in a world where «good» seasons are accepted at face value.

He shares this status with 36-year-old Steph Curry, who will also compete in Tuesday's play-in tournament. The Golden State Warriors will play the Sacramento Kings just after James takes on the New Orleans Pelicans as the West teams fight to gain entry to the playoffs.

James and Curry are superstars