The Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Golden State Warriors in the 2015 NBA Finals in six games despite LeBron James averaging 35.8 points, 13.3 rebounds, 8.8 assists, 1.3 steals and 0.5 blocks in the series.
Kyrie Irving fractured his left kneecap in Game 1 and missed the rest of the series.
Meanwhile, Kevin Love missed the entire Cavaliers-Warriors series after dislocating his left shoulder in the first round of the 2015 playoffs against the Boston Celtics.
James did everything he could to lead Cleveland past Golden State, but the leading scorer in NBA history came up short.
A future Hall of Famer, James played through a well-documented back injury during the 2014-15 season. While it was reported that James didn’t have surgery, his former Cleveland teammate, Iman Shumpert, recently said he “believes” James had “some back operation” after the 2015 NBA Finals.
“I can’t remember what LeBron’s issue was, but I believe he went and got some back operation after that before the next season,” Shumpert said on the Hoop Collective on Monday.
If James did have a back operation in the summer of 2015, it didn’t affect his play in the following season.