The Atlanta Hawks defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 99-94 on Saturday afternoon.
While the loss in itself isn’t great for an L.A. team struggling to stay in the upper half of the Western Conference, the far more serious aspect was a brutal injury to LeBron James.
In the second quarter, James went for the ball and got tangled up with Hawks swingman Solomon Hill. James hurt his ankle as a result.
Although James was initially able to remain in the game, he ultimately ended up subbing himself out. Tests in the locker room revealed that he suffered a high-ankle sprain and will be out indefinitely.
After the fact, at least one Lakers player suggested that something about the play didn’t look right.
“We don’t feel like it was one of those basketball-type plays,” Montrezl Harrell said, before noting that the league should take a look at that particular sequence. “He had to go through his leg to get the ball.”
Hill came out immediately after the game and tweeted a defense:
At this point, it’s unclear whether the league will step in and take action for this particular play.
Big picture: This is just the latest in a long line of blows for the Lakers. The team just got bad news regarding big man Anthony Davis, and now their other superstar is out of action indefinitely.
L.A. is currently 28-14, which is good for third place in the Western Conference. Just 2.5 games separate them and the sixth-place Portland Trail Blazers.
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