Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James has been dealing with an ankle injury for a large portion of the 2023-24 NBA season. He’s missed only 10 games this season because of it — playing in 63 of their 73 games — but it has been an ongoing issue as he tries to manage the injury through a possible postseason run.
One obvious route that James has taken is sitting out one night of a back-to-back, as he did this week for the Lakers. With games against the Milwaukee Bucks and Memphis Grizzlies both on the road on back to back nights, James opted to miss the Bucks matchup and play against the Grizzlies. The calculus there was relatively simple. A win against the high-seeded Bucks is not guaranteed even with James in the lineup, but the superstar could guarantee a win vs. the Grizzlies.
The Lakers played the odds and were rewarded, as L.A. defeated the Bucks without James then cruised to a victory against the Grizzlies with LeBron and without their other superstar in Anthony Davis. And that is how James plans to approach the rest of the season when it comes to managing his injury, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“Just be very strategic on what games (I play) and obviously how many days are between games, flights and things of that nature. Obviously I understand it and seeing how my ankle and my foot is feeling, but just being very smart about it. Obviously we are where we are, but our health has always been the most important thing for our ballclub. Not just one individual, but for me, looking out for myself when it comes to the injury and knowing my foot and knowing my ankle and how it reacts and how it’s been over the last couple years. So always just keeping a hefty eye on it.”
James admitted that if the Lakers were more desperate to move up in the standings — or felt it was more doable — he would try to play through more pain and play more often:
“I mean, I would’ve probably tried to play yesterday if that was the case. I got to be smart with it. If I’m not healthy or close to being healthy then it’s not good for our ballclub anyway and it’s not good for me.”
The Lakers have done relatively well without their superstars in the lineup this season, or as well as they could be expected to do. This has given James the freedom to sit out when he needs and know the Lakers can keep themselves afloat.
But with the postseason push coming to an end, the Lakers still need to be close to flawless if they want to move up, and that requires James being as available as possible.
LeBron James happy to bring energy in second night of back-to-back
After what the Lakers had to do to beat the Bucks on Tuesday night — going to double overtime against one of the best teams in basketball — LeBron James was happy to help infuse some life into L.A. for a lower stakes matchup against the Grizzlies.
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