Kevin Garnett has never been shy about saying the quiet part out loud, and his latest target is the NBA’s most automatic ballot name.
On his podcast, Garnett urged fans to stop using their All-Star votes on LeBron James, arguing that the Lakers star has shown he’s unlikely to actually participate.
“LeBron does not want to play in the All-Star game,” Garnett said. “Listen, all you people out there that’s going to vote for Bron, save your vote. He didn’t play last year.”
KG says fans shouldn’t vote for LeBron to make All-Star:
“LeBron does not want to play in the All-Star game… Listen, all you people out there that’s going to vote for Bron, save your vote. He didn’t play last year.”
(via @kg_certified, @NBA__Courtside)pic.twitter.com/UrxBMAr3Nz
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) December 20, 2025
The factual backbone of KG’s frustration is real: LeBron was selected for the 2025 NBA All-Star Game but sat out, announcing roughly 90 minutes before tip that lingering foot and ankle discomfort kept him from playing. The decision ended his streak of 20 consecutive All-Star starts.
Where Garnett goes further is in interpretation. He frames last year’s absence not as a one-off injury call, but as evidence of a pattern, an aging superstar protecting his body, prioritizing the stretch run, and treating the All-Star stage as optional. In that reading, continuing to vote LeBron in becomes, in Garnett’s words, wasted currency, votes that could go to players who will both earn the selection and suit up.
That argument lands because it taps into the league’s broader All-Star tension: the game’s entertainment value depends on availability and buy-in, while the players’ incentives increasingly point toward preservation. The NBA has tweaked formats and incentives to keep the weekend meaningful, but it can’t legislate a superstar’s health calculus, especially for someone in LeBron’s phase of career, where every extra burst carries a real cost.
The pushback, of course, is just as straightforward. Fans don’t vote for All-Star weekend the way they purchase a concert ticket with a guaranteed setlist. They vote for legacy, for star power, for who defined their season, and LeBron, even with reduced mileage, still carries the gravitational pull of an era. He also sat out last year for a stated medical reason, not as a protest.
Still, Garnett’s message is less about punishing LeBron and more about protecting the meaning of the honor. His stance boils down to a hard-line consumer principle: if you’re not planning to play, don’t take the spot. Whether fans adopt that principle is another matter.
