Come playoff time, LeBron’s ankle injury might cause him some trouble.
LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the All-Star frontcourt of the Los Angeles Lakers, had a generally healthy season until The King’s recent ankle injury sidelined him for the team’s Thursday loss against the Warriors. Since then, he has been receiving treatment.
Although the extent of James’s injury is unknown, it has been bothering him for a while, as he has been showing up on the injury report for the majority of the regular season. It’s also unclear how much of an impact the injury is having on James.
Here’s what James had to say on the matter, per Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times:
“It wasn’t something that we just came up with out of the blue,” James said. “We had already clocked this months ago, knowing the schedule. So just seeing ways that we can maximize days when we had the opportunity in that stretch right there between last Tuesday [and] when we played here today. It was a beneficial one.”
James suggests that LA has figured out a way to fit his rehabilitation into their schedule because he didn’t have enough time to receive the required care and get back on the court in time for their crucial home stretch of the season.
Again, anticipate James to potentially miss a few more games against lower-tier teams in order to refuel for the playoffs, as the nature of the injury (and its severity) is still unknown. For instance, be on the lookout for the following dates: April 3 (vs. Washington), March 27 (vs. Memphis), and February 29 (vs. Washington). More than anything else, the competition on the schedule is strong, which speaks volumes about the difficulties Los Angeles faces in the future.
