Lakers News: LeBron James Finishes As Nominee For Major NBA Award

Was LBJ snubbed?

Los Angeles Lakers All-Star power forward LeBron James narrowly missed out on being named the Western Conference Player of the Month for January, the NBA's PR department has revealed.

Sacramento Kings stars De'Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis, Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alxander, Los Angeles Clippers wing Kawhi Leonard, Portland Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard, Utah Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen, and Minnesota Timberwolves shooting guard Anthony Edwards were the other finalists for the honor in January.

There's no shame in finishing as an also-ran for last month. The winner, two-time Denver Nuggets MVP center Nikola Jokic averaged a triple-double (24 points, 11.6 rebounds, 11.3 assists) while leading his club to a 12-4 record for the month, which is pretty tough to top.

This month, James was twice named the Western Conference Player of the Week, which of course means he must have been a major contender for the honor. 

Across 13 games for Los Angeles last month, James averaged 33.8 points on .503/.313/.781 shooting splits, 9.4 rebounds, 8.2 assists and 0.8 steals per contest. The Lakers went 8-5 in the January games he played. A nomination in this category marks yet another superlative accomplishment for the 19-time All-Star, 38, in his 20th NBA season.

Jokic is currently the frontrunner to win his third consecutive MVP award. James is a four-time league MVP, and has won back-to-back honors two different times, but he has never won three straight. That doesn't necessarily mean he didn't deserve it, given that he was, you know, the best player in the league for probably 11 straight seasons (from 2007-2018).