By now, you probably know the first Monday in May is not just any old Monday: It’s the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute benefit, a.k.a. the Oscars of the East Coast or the party of the year. We think of it as the Fashion X Games, or the All-Star Game of Entrances.

This year, however, things are a little more complicated, partly because the first Monday in May is also the middle of the N.B.A. playoffs, and the start of jury selection in the Sean Combs trial.

Wait, why do the N.B.A. playoffs matter?

Because LeBron James is the honorary chair of the gala, and if his Los Angeles Lakers had made it through to the conference semifinals, he wouldn’t have been able to attend. A season-ending loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves the Wednesday before the gala seemed to clear the way for his attendance, but the point is now moot: On Monday, Mr. James said on X that he would no longer be able to make it to the event because of a knee injury he sustained on the court.

“Hate to miss an historical event!” he wrote. “My beautiful powerful Queen will be there holding the castle down as she always has done!”

Who else is a host?

Queen of all she surveys is Anna Wintour, the chief content officer of Condé Nast and the editor in chief of its marquee fashion magazine, Vogue. Ms. Wintour has been the gala’s chief mastermind since 1999, after first signing on in 1995, and has transformed the event from a run-of-the-mill charity gala into a mega-showcase for Vogue’s view of the world — the ultimate celebrity-power cocktail of famous names from fashion, film, tech, politics, sports and, increasingly, social media. Every brand scratches every other brand’s back.