Days away from season opener, LeBron James not medically cleared to play
Concern for Cavaliers and more relevantly, LeBron James fans, as the star has not been fully involved in team practices. He was not part of the Cavs’ practice session on Friday, and it’s been a week since he was part of a comprehensive team training session. James was administered an anti-inflammatory injection for his lower back on October 13th according to ESPN.
Cleveland Cavaliers insiders have said that despite not being cleared to participate in all basketball related activites, the two-time NBA Champion has been gradually increasing his workload.
James, who insisted that it wasn’t his decision to sit out, stated, “ No, it's not (his choice to stay out). But it's the schedule I'm on, and I'm trying to listen to the training staff and not be hard-headed, and I'm going with them. When they tell me I'm cleared to practice, I'll practice.”
Painful as it is to admit, it seems that the strain of playing 43,000 minutes in the regular season and playoffs combined in his career is catching up to the thiry-year-old two-time NBA Most Valuable Player. James has played, by far, the most minutes compared to any player for the past five seasons and the injection in his lower back is the second one in ten months.
And he isn’t too proud to admit that it probably won’t the last for this season. James clarified, “We have it set up to where if I need it, we can do it again. Hopefully it don't come to that, but it's a possibility, but that's all part of the process. It's there if we need it.”
While Cavaliers head coach David Blatt said earlier this week that his star player would “absolutely be ready” for the first game of the fresh season, team General Manager David Griffin was a little ambiguous, saying, “I don't think that there's any reason that he won't play on Tuesday. We have no reason to believe that, but we also are of the mindset that it wouldn't be the end of the world if he didn't play on Tuesday. We just want him to get better every day, and he has been, and he's been progressing and feeling like we'd like him to feel.”
“King” James missed a record 13 games last season and clocked a career low 36.1 MPG (minutes per game). Griffin said that LeBron would need a little more strength work and avoid overexertion to be fully fit for the regular season, which will last upto mid-2016, and even longer if (very likely) Cleveland make the playoffs.