FEBRUARY 28, 11:04am: James is expected to be reevaluated in two weeks to see how his injured right foot has progressed, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). However, James could be out for longer than that.
The Lakers’ place in the standings in a couple weeks may be a factor in the decision on when it makes sense for LeBron to return, Woj adds.
FEBRUARY 27, 6:41pm: LeBron James could miss an extended period of time due to a right foot injury, Shams Charania of The Athletic reports. He’ll get multiple medical opinions regarding the injury, but the Lakers are bracing for his absence to span multiple weeks, Charania adds (Twitter links).
James suffered the injury during Sunday’s game against Dallas, in which the Lakers rallied from a 27-point deficit to pull out a 111-108 win. James played through the injury on Sunday but the team has already listed him as out for its game against Memphis on Tuesday, Jovan Buha of The Athletic notes (Twitter link).
James’ absence could be a crushing blow to the Lakers’ playoff hopes. They’re currently 29-32 and 12th in the Western Conference standings.
James admitted after Sunday’s game that he was hurting, Dave McMenamin of ESPN relays.
“It’s been better,” James said. “That’s for sure. But I definitely wasn’t going to go to the locker room and not finish the game out tonight. Just understood the importance of the game, and then with the momentum that we had, I felt like we could still win after being down. We’ll monitor it the next couple days, see how it feels and go from there.”
James, who has already missed 14 games this season, is averaging 29.5 points, 8.4 rebounds and 6.9 assists per night. He said during the All-Star break he was determined to play every game the rest of the season, eager to get back to the postseason after the Lakers failed to qualify last season.
Without James, the Lakers will have to rely more on newcomer Jarred Vanderbilt and Rui Hachimura, as well as Troy Brown Jr. and Lonnie Walker.
Aww I’m so sad
Lakers need to say something Tuesday
It is transparency
Reporters are just reporters
I have tears in my eyes too
What a weird way to consume sports entertainment. You don’t like a guy so you’re happy he’s injured. Why even watch? I swear the NBA has hands down the most casual fanbase. If somebody tried explaining triangle offense to you, your brain would melt
Cry harder fanboy
Tough blow for the Lakers.
Can’t catch a break.
Team was looking good with the new additions.
These last 21 games shall be interesting.
“Oh, that’s a drag.”-Russel Westbrook.
the way he was walking and playing it looks like they shot up his foot with pain killers for that game. You don’t normally move your feet like that.
Multiple weeks? That’s a killer, if it plays out that way. Then again, they may own that 10th spot regardless, since the competition for the spot focused on getting worse at the deadline.
If Jazz and Thunder are tanking,
If LeBron miss 3 weeks,
Only one of the following teams miss the play-in
Warriors — Curry
Wolves —-Towns
Pelicans – Zion
Blazers – Nurkic
Lakers – LeBron
After Lakers are in play-in and LeBron is healthy, ….
Thunder aren’t tanking. They’re using Chet as their pick this year and JayWill as their top pick. They have Shai. Shai wants playin experience.
Wonder if it’s just load management and he said, “AD, this is your team now. Run with it or we are trading your cyclops ass in july”
That is one reason for sure and the other is it is a back-up excuse in case LAL miss the playoffs or do not improve much. Basically Lebron sees this is as a evaluation period for the team – if they are good enough he will join them, if not he will stay injured and avoid the blame.
Father Time is knocking on LBJ’s door.
You haven’t been watching
Lebron is just making excuses hes probably scared to go against ja and SGA
You think that Lebron James is scared of Ja and SGA? Please tell me that you aren’t actually this stupid.
Didn’t the lakers already beat them so no one scared of anyone
Some of the opinions on here are breathtaking man. Nikogallisisbetterthenjordan are you serious? Lebron is scared to go up against ja or sga? He’s the king for a reason. At his age doing what he’s doing is incredible. He’s a true competitor and not scared to play anyone. You must not pay attention to basketball.
I’m sorry I must have missed the coronation ceremony. What reason exactly is he the king for??? And what exactly makes him a “true competitor” in comparison to the rest of the league???
Guy just asked what makes Lebron James, all time scoring leader and 9th on the all time games played list a true competitor. You need a different hobby big guy.
How much is Lebron paying you?
@B-ball Trav…
Sadly in this site there is an inordinate amount of hate for greatness… must be jealousy or that “The King” destroyed their teams for the last couple decades!
Real sad that folks hate the guys that make this beloved game of ours sooo great!!!
Va Ja ja hurting again ?
You’re adorable.
Lakers will be Lakers
The CCP is going to be ticked off!!
Lamebron out again, boo hoo.
This is why he ain’t the GOAT.
He’s 38 years old!!!
Great argument.
Because he got hurt?
If we’re holding anything and, apparently, everything against LBJ in the GOAT argument, shouldn’t we discuss Jordan’s Wizards tenure as well?
He played on it ……
He needs rest. A few gms 2-3 should do it. Lakers playoffs start now. They have to win.
Father Time is undefeated. LeBron’s body is breaking down. Will have to play fewer minutes moving forward, or he will continue to have injuries that put him on the sidelines for weeks at a time.
Lakers playoff chances are now officially done.
Father Time is well over .500 but definitely not undefeated anymore
Who defeated it? Never been done but you seem to know something no one else does.
No one has ever defeated Father Time. Not Michael Jordan, not Tiger Woods, not Wayne Gretzky, and not Tom Brady. LeBron won’t be the first.
I’d argue with this season, LeBron has already won. 30 ppg at age 38, yeah, he beat father time.
You just brought the IQ down
How many games has LeBron missed due to injury during his time with the Lakers? Father Time has caught LeBron.
@saavedra All that effort to get to 30 ppg has caused him to miss a significant portion of the season. Beating Father Time means staying healthy and playing at a high-level. This is the time of year where LeBron is preparing to get into playoff mode. Instead, he is rehabbing yet another injury.
Every time somebody says that everyone in the room gets dumber
Shouldnt of played in the All Star game when he couldn’t even play for his own team, selfish. If the Lakers don’t make the playoffs, hes gonna use his foot injury as to why they missed it even though hes played in atleast 85% of his team’s games. The biggest problem with the Lakers is that they beat 2 or 3 bad/under performing teams in a row and act like they just won the finals. In my opinion, its all on the coach. Very difficult to coach Lebron but the role players that are supposely decent have basically contributed nothing all season. Add that to Lebron basically playing no defense (hes 38, what can you expect), and this team is a recipe for disaster. I actually think this team would be better if Lebron wasn’t the primary ball handler, as he still has the strength to get to the rim and finish at this age. Would also stop him from shooting a ton of 3s
If he’s played in 85% of his team’s games, how’s he selfish? That didn’t really make sense.
Start over…
He should not have played. He put self glory over his needed praise. He should have been taken out of the Dallas game but he stayed in.
No sweat. Lakers are back to getting the 3-to-4 times more free throw attempts than the opposition per game. The refs and the commish will take care of L.A.
Gonna miss the scoring…
He scored his points. What does he care. He doesn’t