Whilst guarding LeBron. They all play.

super disappointing, was really looking forward to seeing him play along side Giddey this season.

Always worrying when a 7 foot kid does an injury. Hopefully it becomes an Embiid situation, not a Greg Oden, Andrew Bynum etc

Actually Bynum was an All star pre injury, but there's been others

LeBron and the modern player will sit out as many competitive games as possible to prolong their career but at the same time are more involved than ever before in off season competitions. These NBA players are beyond frustrating, imagine being an owner.

LeBron and other NBA players in these leagues are going at half pace. Less than even a good team scrimmage.

Whether they play these games or not has no bearing on whether they'll sit out games in the regular season.

The majority of time when a player sits in the NBA game its a team decision, not the player.

It's still possible to get injured going at half pace or at a team scrimmage.

Its possible to get injured doing drills at training, driving your car or washing dishes.

So glad we drafted Paolo even more than ever now...

Hence your point of going half pace or less than a team scrimmage is irrelevant

Players need to keep fit in the off season

NBA teams would rather them jog around in a mild intensity scrimmage, than sit on their couch eating pizza, or worse, smoking something untoward

Unfortunately occasionally injuries will occur. It's unavoidable. What's the issue?

"Hence your point of going half pace or less than a team scrimmage is irrelevant"

My comment was in response to people bagging out someone playing in a meaningless off season game and resting in NBA games, not whether you could get injured. So, no.

It could be good in the long term. Better development opportunities for the rest of their young guys, and maybe a higher draft pick in the 2023 draft.

It's nearly the best way to go, especially with young big men, to have them sit out the year, develop physically and mature. Then hope to grab another top 3 draft pick. Philadelphia did it with the process, unfortunately got a headcase in Simmons and took Fultz instead of Tatum.
The only other ways is to create cap room and end up like Nets, or get lucky like Warriors and have great players slip in draft.

Yeah, this pretty much locks them into another lotto pick, the teams gonna be stacked with young talent.

There's a love of the game clause in contracts which allows players to play organised games during the offseason, there’s fiba euro games playing atm

Iirc Dante Exum tore an ACL during a friendly playing for AUS, there’s just as much chance of being injured playing a friendly than there is at training camp

Wow, you've just compared playing for one's country and EuroBasket to a playground league full of amateur locals with a couple of pros peppered in. National team duty and pickup ball aren't equals.

It's as if no one in this thread actually read what happened or is bamboozled by the fact a few NBA players made an appearance in a summer bush league.

The injury occurred due to a slippery court because the humid conditions were mismanaged by the organisers. Shock, horror - amateur league amateurs it up.

LeBron was happy to dunk landing dangerously within millimetres of the crowd. He recently locked up a contract extension so hey, why not?

It is what it is, NBA players want to play so they do. By no means is it smart though and they probably figure there's a whole season during which they can rest up while getting paid in case something goes wrong.