How serious is LeBron James’ foot injury? Latest update on LA Lakers’ superstar injury and possible return date
LeBron James' injury has continued to hinder the LA Lakers as they fight to climb into play-in contention. He is out indefinitely with a foot injury he's dealt with since January. With D'Angelo Russell and Anthony Davis also dealing with injuries, many have held out hope for James.
After reports surfaced that LeBron James would avoid surgery for the injury, NBA insider Shams Charania gave another update on James’ injury. According to the Lakers, James has a right foot tendon injury that will be re-evaluated in three weeks.
That puts James’ targeted return date for the March 24th game against the OKC Thunder. After that, the Lakers will have just eight more games before potentially heading into the postseason.
Lakers say LeBron James has a right foot tendon injury and will be re-evaluated in three weeks.
According to NBA insider Chris Haynes, the belief is that LeBron James could play through the injury if he absolutely had to. This comes on the heels of reports surfacing this week that James will avoid surgery.
On '#thisleague UNCUT', Haynes said:
"Could LeBron get out there and play right now? It’d be a risk, but I think he probably could if he necessarily had to. But it’s too much of a risk. It’s too much pain right now. The plan right now is to get him as much time to heal for this rehab process, but the Lakers have got to win."
The LA Lakers’ lingering injuries
While the LA Lakers set themselves up for a strong final stretch of the year with the acquisitions of Rui Hachimura and D’Angelo Russell, injuries have been the story of the season. Anthony Davis has dealt with injuries. Early on, Davis was putting up MVP-caliber numbers despite obvious back pain.
During AD's absence, it was LeBron James who took over in an attempt to keep the team afloat while chasing NBA history. Despite his best efforts, the Lakers have continued to sit outside of playoff contention. The Lakers (30-33) are one game behind the New Orleans Pelicans and the Utah Jazz, who are tied nine and 10th in the West with 31-32 records.
The latest updates have James out for at least 2-3 weeks, meaning the team will largely have to pull themselves into play-in contention without him. Shams Charania has used the term “an indefinite amount of time” regarding the injury, meaning it could be longer until we see James if he doesn’t progress.
Most recently, the team picked up a crucial win against the OKC Thunder without LeBron James, Russell and Davis. The win gave many hope that they can turn things around and win enough games to qualify for the postseason.
If the team is able to qualify for the postseason, James will have several games to find his rhythm before the end of the year. With the Western Conference race heating up, it will be interesting to see how things play out.