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The NBA Awards are Monday night on TNT but one of the league’s key players won’t be there.
LeBron James will not be attending the awards show, according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. In fact, the only two Cavs players who are attending are Jordan Clarkson and John Holland:
Any Cleveland fans looking to tune into the NBA Awards show on TNT tonight, the team says Jordan Clarkson and John Holland are the two Cavs scheduled to be in attendance. LeBron not expected to be there for the MVP announcement.
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) June 25, 2018
James is a finalist for the league’s MVP award, along with Houston’s James Harden and New Orleans’ Anthony Davis. According to Basketball Reference’s MVP tracker tool, Harden is the clear favorite to come away with the award with a 68.1 percent probability. James is second with an 8.3 percent chance.
So is James not attending because he knows Harden is going to take home the night’s top honor? Or to avoid free agency speculation? Or because he just wants to spend time with his family and away from basketball?
Obviously only he knows the answer, and it could be one or all of the above.
The show begins at 9 p.m. ET on TNT.