At some point very soon, LeBron James will make his season debut for the Los Angeles Lakers as he has been out since training camp while dealing with sciatica on his right side. One of the things that makes this kind of injury so difficult to recover from is that it is a nerve issue that doesn’t go away quickly.
Some may joke that a soon to be 41-year old James set to begin his 23rd NBA season dealing with a back issue should be expected. But the Lakers’ superstar has actually dealt with this issue before and made it clear that he hopes others don’t have to deal with the pain he has been dealing with.
“I’ve had it. I had it two years ago,” LeBron revealed following practice on Monday. “I had it two years ago. You had it, then you know what the hell it’s about. If you ain’t never had it and people are making jokes about it, I pray you never get it. It’s not fun.”
Dealing with sciatica is something that is extremely rough for a normal person to deal with, let alone one of the greatest athletes this world has ever known. And even though LeBron is nearing his return to the court, he is not pain free, but has simply done the necessary things to limit the issues it causes and is staying positive overall.
“I wouldn’t take it that far,” James responded when asked if he was pain free. “Like I said, if you ever had it, you go about it and you wake up one day and you hope that when you step down from the bed that you don’t feel it. You go to bed at night. And you hope that when you’re in the bed that you don’t feel it. So I’ve been doing pretty good with it as of late. There’s a lot of exercises and a lot of mobility things and a lot of things you can do to help it. So I’m just keeping a positive mindset.”
Sciatica is something can linger around so it is important for James and the Lakers to continue monitoring things daily to ensure things stay on a positive path with nothing triggering it and forcing him on another extended absence.
LeBron James impressed with Lakers’ start while he recovers
Despite LeBron James’ absence, the Lakers have still gotten off to an extremely strong start and held their own both offensively and defensively. And LeBron has been impressed with how this team has come together and feels he will be able to help right away once he returns.
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