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LeBron James’s NBA playoff streak is all but coming to an end this season, as his Los Angeles Lakers continue to struggle. Assuming James does miss the playoffs, it’ll be the first time since the 2004-05 season — or his second in the league — as his then Cleveland Cavaliers finished 42-40 and losing out on the postseason because of a tiebreaker with the New Jersey Nets. Yes, the world was a different place 14 years ago.
While NBA fans, presumably, won’t see LeBron James in the NBA Playoffs this year for the first time since he was a 21-year-old who was still fighting acne, the four-time league MVP sure did accomplish a lot during his streak. James has won three NBA titles during that time, with the last eight NBA Finals featuring one of LeBron James’ teams. It’s been impressive as all hell, and deserves an applause from all of us.
But, alas, the streak is sure to come to an end in the next month or so and, because Twitter is awesome, some fine folks got a unique trend going that pays homage to LeBron James, with people tossing out some wild facts to remind us about what the world was like in 2005. There were some pretty good ones, so take a look below to see the wildness.
https://twitter.com/AVelotta27/status/1103431233772707845
https://twitter.com/gravitational83/status/1104221962333765632
https://twitter.com/IrelynIsland/status/1104220519048523776
https://twitter.com/HSalasJR/status/1104220120904355840
Last time Lebron missed the playoffs…..he was somebody #FreeMelo pic.twitter.com/HYFaqYXdZt
— Yasmin Walker 🏳️🌈✊🏾 (@yas_numeroUno) March 9, 2019
Last time LeBron James missed the playoffs, Snapchat Instagram and the iPhone didn't yet exist.
— Marques Brownlee (@MKBHD) March 7, 2019
Zion was 5 years old last time LeBron missed the playoffs. Lmaoooo
— 🛸 (@MOJO32_) March 7, 2019
The last time LeBron James wasn't in the playoffs, people were listening to music on these. pic.twitter.com/w0jrt6KrEU
— Adam Pfeifer (@APfeifer24) March 8, 2019
The last time Lebron James missed out on the #NBA playoffs in April 2005: Candy Shop by 50 Cent was the top song on the @billboard music charts. #PlayoffsWithoutLBJ
— Randip Janda (@RandipJanda) March 7, 2019
How LeBron spent his time the last time he missed the playoffs pic.twitter.com/6yNEW2jFKq
— Brody Logan (@BrodyLogan) March 8, 2019
This what the golf world looked like the last time LeBron missed the playoffs. pic.twitter.com/xalCszynWS
— Carr for the course (@Carr4thecourse) March 8, 2019
https://twitter.com/drippy_lit/status/1104189697788502016
The last time LeBron missed the playoffs Harden didn’t have a beard and Brody was really Brody and blockbuster had 9000 stores nationwide #PlayoffsWithoutLBJ pic.twitter.com/rTAB8EPwW5
— Mas (@masonbiznes) March 9, 2019
The last time LeBron missed the playoffs a 26 year old Kobe lead the Lakers to a 34 win season in their first year without Shaq.
— Justin Rowan (@Cavsanada) March 8, 2019
Who knows if people have LeBron James fatigue given his dominance over the past 1.5 decades. It’s always good for the NBA to have the best players in the NBA Playoffs, so it’s going to be weird not seeing James go into freak playoff mode and add to his already historic resume. But, hey, at least the conversation led to a trip down memory lane, giving us some pretty solid moments from when James was sitting at home watching the postseason on TV.
Wonder what James is going to do this year now that he’s not playing in the playoffs? Charles Barkley has an awesome suggestion, just saying.