Craig Carton is not a fan of LeBron James. And the WFAN host continued calling out the Los Angeles Lakers superstar on Wednesday after he missed what was supposed to be a highly anticipated matchup against Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs.

It wasn’t just LeBron that sat out the home game against the Spurs, though. The Lakers were without pretty much their entire starting lineup as James, Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, DeAndre Ayton, and Marcus Smart all missed the game. Bronny James played 25 minutes!

Predictably, the Spurs routed the Lakers 136-108 as Wemby scored 37 of his 40 points in the first half, hardly breaking a sweat.

And with the sports media coming to their annual tradition of finding the NBA in crisis after football season, it was Carton’s turn to declare that James missing the contest was a sign of the league’s impending demise.

Craig rips LeBron James for being “afraid” of the Spurs, and calls for the NBA to suspend him:@craigcartonlive pic.twitter.com/2q0bfFRXVb

— WFAN Sports Radio (@WFAN660) February 11, 2026

“The NBA needs to suspend LeBron James,” Carton said. “The NBA should suspend LeBron James. Because it’s enough. But the premier matchup last night for the NBA was actually Lakers and Spurs. Whatever you think about the Lakers, like I do, average basketball team, one and done in the postseason, it’s still Lakers and Spurs and the Spurs might win a championship this year. They’re that good, right?”

Carton criticized James for embracing load management and missing another game against the Spurs, calling him afraid of Wembanyama and company. He also took more of a personal shot against James for the patch on his uniform celebrating his 23rd season and not living up to his own legacy by choosing to miss games.

“The guy that you gave an individual patch to when he demanded it so he could celebrate himself as a 23-year veteran in the NBA and have a patch that they cut up every single game and sell on a Topps special NBA card pack, that guy decided to embarrass the NBA and not play basketball last night because he don’t want that smoke and it’s the third time this year he has chosen while healthy not to play basketball against the San Antonio Spurs,” the host stated.

“I flipped over at the end of the Knick game to check out Lakers-Spurs last night and the first thing I find out is the self-appointed king stays on the porch with his rottweilers cause he don’t want that smoke. If I’m Adam Silver, if I’m the NBA, I suspend LeBron James. You’re dead to me. You don’t carry the torch for Michael Jordan. You don’t carry the torch for Magic Johnson. You don’t carry the torch for Larry Bird.”

Earlier this season, Craig Carton called out LeBron James for practicing his golf swing during the national anthem. So at least some of this take is focused on basketball-related matters.

LeBron and much of the Lakers taking the night off against the Spurs got lost in the bigger news cycle of the Jazz and almost a quarter of the league tanking before we’ve even reached the All-Star Game. But both really do represent one of the biggest issues facing the league right now – fans aren’t sure which stars are going to show up and actually play on any given night.

And while Craig Carton is always going to go big on the theatrics in his radio monologues and go to the extreme, nobody is actually thinking about making an example out of LeBron James when 95% of the league is doing the same exact thing.

However, there is some underlying truth to the frustration here. Anyone hoping for a great Lakers-Spurs game on Wednesday night probably turned it off after seeing the entire starting lineup for Los Angeles on the bench. And that’s a real problem for the NBA.