LeBron James revealed he will miss the 2025 Met Gala due to the knee injury he sustained in the Lakers’ season-ending loss to the Timberwolves in Game 5 of their first-round playoff series last Wednesday.
The NBA’s all-time leading scorer, who is this year’s honorary chair, explained that his wife, Savannah James, will represent the couple at fashion’s biggest night, which is set to take place Monday at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute in Manhattan.
“Unfortunately because of my knee injury I sustained at the end of the season I won’t be able to attend the Met Gala in NY tonight as so many people have been asking and congratulating me on!” James, 40, wrote on X, hours before the start of the Met Gala red carpet.
“Hate to miss an historical event! My beautiful powerful Queen will be there holding the castle down as she always has done!”
James has never attended the Met Gala.
Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton, actor Colman Domingo, and musicians ASAP Rocky and Pharrell Williams will co-chair the 2025 Met Gala with Anna Wintour, the editor-in-Chief of “Vogue,” who has hosted the event for nearly three decades.
Savannah, 38, attended Wintour’s private pre-Met Gala dinner, along with the co-chairs, on Sunday.
It’s unclear if James traveled from Los Angeles to New York with Savannah.
The Lakers superstar suffered a Grade 2 MCL sprain in his left knee in a 103-96 season-ending loss to Minnesota on April 30, according to ESPN.
James finished with 22 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
The injury comes with a 3-5 week recovery timeline.
However, questions about James’ playing future inevitably followed.
“I don’t have an answer to that,” the four-time NBA champ told reporters when asked how many years he has left in the sport. “Something I’ll sit down with my family, my wife and my support group, have conversations with myself on how long I want to continue to play. We’ll see.”
It’s unclear which designer will dress Mrs. James for the 2025 Met Gala.
This year’s theme for the spring 2025 exhibition is “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” which recognizes Black designers and the liberation of dressing with confidence.
The theme drew inspiration from Monica L. Miller’s 2009 book “Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity,” and the exhibition is organized into 12 sections, each representing a characteristic that defines dandy style: Ownership, Presence, Distinction, Disguise, Freedom, Champion, Respectability, Jook, Heritage, Beauty, Cool, and Cosmopolitanism.