The Los Angeles Lakers have already dealt with some significant injuries in the first quarter of the 2022-23 season, including recently losing LeBron James to a strained left adductor.
James suffered the injury in a recent loss to the L.A. Clippers and has been forced to miss the last four games after being ruled out of Sunday night’s class with the San Antonio Spurs.
Before the game, Lakers head coach Darvin Ham discussed where James is at in his recovery process and why they are being extra cautious before allowing him to return to action.
“He’s staying in rhythm, but again, what you do in a 1-on-0 workout or 5-on-0 workout is a lot different than going in a game where you’re bumping bodies, changing speeds, changing direction,” Ham said. “That’s not predictable and not as controlled as an individual workout. So again, there’s no need to be in a hurry with him. He’s gonna definitely play a big bulk of games this season.
“It’s November, so we have time on our side. We had that long break last week, seeing some opponents and getting healthy guys back in Thomas and Dennis allows us to really take our time with him. So we just want to be as cautious as possible so again, it doesn’t turn into something he’s constantly dealing with throughout the season.”
While being without your best player is never ideal, the Lakers are handling this James injury correctly as the last thing you want is for it to linger and become a bigger issue.
L.A. recently had a nice break in their schedule with four day off which allowed extra rest time for James. While he has missed four games, it has been 11 days since LeBron has played in a game.
The good news is that the Lakers are starting to find their form, even without the strong play and leadership of James. Others have been stepping up in his absence with Anthony Davis leading the way, so hopefully when James is able to return he can continue pushing things in the right direction as the Lakers look to get out of their early-season funk.
Davis says ‘nothing changes’ for him when James returns
One of the biggest reason for the Lakers’ recent string of wins has been the dominance of Davis. With James out, he has taken it upon himself to be ultra-aggressive, attacking the rim offensively. Davis understands that his aggressiveness needs to continue when his co-star gets back though if this team is going to be successful.
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