As if they weren’t already, the Los Angeles Lakers are officially in deep, deep trouble.
The Lakers lost a very pivotal game to the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday. Though they led by 20 points at the half and by as many as 23 overall, the Lakers melted down spectacularly and lost 116-108. To make matters worse, LeBron James suffered a sprained left ankle in the second quarter.
Here is another angle showing the apparent severity of James’ ankle turn.
Though James ultimately played through the injury, he expressed concern about his ankle afterwards. The former MVP called his pain “horrible” and said that he had no idea how he finished the game.
The loss was yet another new low for the Lakers this season, as it dropped them to tenth place in the West. The Pelicans, who are now ninth, officially clinched the season tiebreaker over the Lakers. The San Antonio Spurs, who are just one game back of the Lakers now as well and could bump them out of the play-in tournament altogether, also hold the tiebreaker over the Lakers currently by virtue of conference record.
Lakers were already down Anthony Davis, and now James is potentially hobbled as well as the team sits at 31-43. While it is not the same ankle that derailed James’ season last year, we have officially entered into DEFCON 1 territory for the Lakers with less than ten games left in the regular season.
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