LeBron James – Los Angeles Lakers
Injury: Abdominal – Expected Return: 1-2 Weeks from November 4, 2022)
LeBron James missed two games for the Lakers last week against the Spurs and Thunder due to a sore right ankle and now, the Lakers announced on Thursday that the 17x All-Star is set to miss some time after an abdominal strain.
James suffered this injury in the Lakers’ 119-117 victory over the Houston Rockets on Tuesday night and the Lakers are preparing to be without their leader for at least one week. Throughout the last year and a half, Los Angeles has dealt with several key injuries on their roster, some relating to LeBron James, who has been the pinnacle of health throughout his entire career.
Maybe “Father Time” is finally starting to catch up to King James, but overall, this is something to be slightly concerned about in Lakers’ Land. Since joining the Lakers ahead of the 2018-19 season, LeBron has missed 14% of his team’s total games, not counting this season.
This is not that big of a percentage, but in four years with Cleveland prior to joining the Lakers, LeBron James missed just about 8% of his team’s total games.
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Whether it is back injuries, ankle injuries or something else, it seems like LeBron has always been dealing with something over the course of a season in Los Angeles and now this abdominal injury is yet another one to add to the list.
With two other All-Stars in Russell Westbrook and Anthony Davis, as well as a ton of former All-Star talent on their roster this season, it seems like the Lakers would be in good hands without LeBron James, but they are 1-2 without him and their lone win came in overtime on the road in San Antonio.
These two losses have both been to the Oklahoma City Thunder, who many believe are the worst team in the league. Without LeBron, the Lakers blew a 26-point lead to the Thunder and lost by 8 points and then on Thursday night, the Lakers blew a 19-point lead to the Thunder and lost by 3 points.
In the long run, this Lakers team will figure things out and be alright but injuries have already been affecting their potential success. LeBron James now joins a list including Talen Horton-Tucker, Kendrick Nunn, Trevor Ariza and Wayne Ellington as Lakers players dealing with injuries.
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Los Angeles is going to need LeBron James healthy and on the court for them to be one of the best teams in the league and potentially win a title, but as of right now, there are no long-term concerns about this abdominal injury for James.
