All-time NBA scoring champion LeBron James last took to the court when he broke that coveted record back on Feb. 7.
Since then, the Los Angeles Lakers star has missed two games with a left foot injury. Initially, it seemed like the injury was minor with James being considered questionable for both of those games before ultimately finding himself ruled out.
We’re now not too sure. James will officially miss his third consecutive game against the Portland Trail Blazers Monday night, furthering concerns over the severity of the injury.
Chris Haynes of Turner Sports reported recently that there’s a bit more to James’ injury and that he’s dealing with pain that has been “unbearable.”
“I was told that Tuesday’s game, the record-breaking game, I was told LeBron was severely struggling with that foot injury he has. It’s something that’s been nagging him for a few weeks already, but it gets to point where it just gets unbearable. He plays through it. And people that talked to me said he was really struggling with that foot.”
Report on LeBron James injury
The interesting dynamic here is that James is being listed with an ankle injury to the left foot. One now has to wonder whether the lingering issue has now hit a point that this could persist for the remainder of the season.
This new information comes out a couple days after Los Angeles defeated the Golden State Warriors on the road with all of their new components contributing as the team ended its three-game losing streak.
The Lakers were extremely active ahead of last week’s NBA trade deadline in an attempt to get King James more help. If he’s sidelined a substantial amount of time or isn’t anyhwere near 100%, it will impact Los Angeles’ ability to get back in the playoff mix out West.
After all, James was playing at an elite clip ahead of sitting out the past two games.
Currently sitting at 26-31 on the season, Los Angeles boasts the third-worst record in the Western Conference, two games out of the final play-in spot and four games out of a top-six seed in the conference.
The acquisitions of D’Angelo Russell, Jarred Vanderbilt, Malik Beasley and Mo Bamba seems to have given the Lakers new life.
None of that will matter if the situation surrounding LeBron James’ injury continues to deteriorate as reports leak from his camp.
Dating back to the 2021-22 campaign, the Lakers are a mere 13-26 when James does not play.
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