LeBron James Suffers Injury and Can’t Play Basketball
LeBron James is projected to be unable to participate for at least the subsequent two weeks after having to leave the Los Angeles Lakers’ astonishing comeback victory against the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday with an injury to his right foot. Bill Reiter from CBS Sports further affirms that James might be out for a longer duration of time depending on the standings of the West for the Lakers after the two-week checkpoint.
It was mentioned shortly after the Lakers win against Dallas that some trepidation had risen within the Lakers organization over James possibly being out of action for an extended period due to the injury.
During the third quarter against the Mavericks, James seemingly hurt his foot, but still managed to remain in the game to contribute to the completion of the comeback. He managed to accumulate 26 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 assists in the win. It was the biggest Lakers comeback in the last 21 years, surmounting a 27-point deficit to astound the Mavericks in Dallas, though this success has come with the cost of having their most significant player missing from the team for a few weeks.
The Lakers are simply not able to suffer from the loss of LeBron for a longer duration, particularly at this point of the season. With a 29-32 record, they currently sit in the No. 12 seed of the Western Conference. For the upcoming three games after Tuesday against the Memphis Grizzlies, the Lakers will all face play-in contenders; the Thunder on Wednesday, Timberwolves on Friday, and the Warriors on Sunday.
This season, the Lakers have recorded a 5-9 record without James. They were able to sustain the absence at the beginning, thanks to the remarkable performance of Davis, however, he is only now starting to return to form after being out of the game for almost two months. The Lakers managed to conquer the Warriors without James in their initial match after exchanging Russell Westbrook, but Stephen Curry was absent for Golden State.
Consequently, the Lakers must now depend on Davis and D’Angelo Russell, their newest point guard, to keep the team afloat while James is recovering. Should the recovery extend beyond two weeks, the Lakers will be at risk of allowing too much of a gap in the standings for them to survive without LeBron.