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LeBron James Walked Off the Court Before the Lakers-Mavericks Game Ended

LeBron did not stick around to shake hands with Luka Doncic's former team.

Stephen Douglas

LeBron James heads to the locker room before the buzzer against the Mavericks.
LeBron James heads to the locker room before the buzzer against the Mavericks. / @CJZer
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The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Dallas Mavericks in Luka Doncic's first game against his former team on Thursday night. While the game was tied at 91 with six minutes remaining, it wasn't close enough down the stretch for the Lakers to really sweat it.

And nothing demonstrates just how over the game was than LeBron James walking off the court towards the locker room with 21 seconds left on the clock. As soon as Austin Reeves collected the final rebound of the game off a Max Christie miss, LeBron headed out, forgoing the opportunity to exchange pleasantries with the Mavericks.

After skipping the All-Star game, LeBron has played in all four Lakers games following the break. He clearly knows handshakes and hugs with vanquished opponents just use up energy that he needs as the Lakers are set to play the Timberwolves and Clippers back-to-back on Thursday and Friday night. That's time better spent with trainers and ice.

The Lakers have now won 15 of their last 19 games dating back to the middle of January and have climbed into the fourth seed in the Western Conference.

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Stephen Douglas
STEPHEN DOUGLAS

Stephen Douglas is a senior writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has worked in media since 2008 and now casts a wide net with coverage across all sports. Douglas spent more than a decade with The Big Lead and previously wrote for Uproxx and The Sporting News. He has three children, two degrees and one now unverified Twitter account.

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