The Los Angeles Lakers announced that LeBron James has been evaluated by the team physicians and medical staff, and it has been determined that he has sustained a right foot tendon injury. James will be reevaluated in approximately three weeks.
James suffered the injury during Sunday’s comeback win over the Dallas Mavericks. Although he was able to finish the game, it was clear that he was not 100% and was later seen limping out of the arena.
This is the first official diagnosis on LeBron’s injury that the Lakers have put out and although the timetable is not ideal, it’s good to at least get a sense of how long he will be out before returning.
The Lakers have 10 of their 19 remaining regular-season games over the next three weeks, so James will miss a large chunk of time. It’s also important to note that just because LeBron will be reevaluated in three weeks does not mean he will be returning then. L.A. will see how James’ foot progresses and then assess the next steps from there. Even if LeBron is cleared to play in three weeks, he will likely need a ramp-up period to get back in game shape considering he is dealing with a foot injury.
In James’ absence, other guys will need to step up if the Lakers want to stay in the postseason race. The Lakers are currently 11th in the Western Conference at 30-33, but only 4.5 games separate the fourth and 12th seeds so there is potential for a lot of movement over the next three weeks.
Guys have already done a nice job making up for the loss of James with Dennis Schroder, Austin Reaves and plenty of others leading the way in Wednesday night’s road victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Getting D’Angelo Russell and Anthony Davis back in the lineup will be essential though, so hopefully both are able to return sooner rather than later.
Russell not playing on Friday against Timberwolves
For Russell though, that return will have to wait at least one more game as he said he won’t be able to play on Friday when the Lakers return home against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Russell’s revenge game will be saved for another time, but he is hopeful he will be able to play on Sunday against the Golden State Warriors.
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