I would argue it's mainly inexperienced devs who deploy on the very latest. Once you get some more years under your belt you realize the value of LTS versions, even if you don't get the shiniest shiny.
Yes it’s LTS but the point is that the LTS system has overlapping support so you can wait on an older LTS for a bit before upgrading to a newer one. And it’s somewhat prudent to do so if you value stability highly, because often a few new issues will be discovered and patched after LTS goes live for a bit.