LeBron James — Los Angeles Lakers (Along with Teammates)
Picked by many to win the Western Conference and even the NBA Finals entering the new season, the Los Angeles Lakers have had many early-season struggles. With basically an entirely new roster after the additions of Russell Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony, Rajon Rondo, DeAndre Jordan, Dwight Howard, and others this offseason, the Lakers have had trouble creating chemistry on the court with one another.
Injuries have played a huge role in this, as LeBron James, Talen Horton-Tucker, Kendrick Nunn, Trevor Ariza, Austin Reaves, and Rajon Rondo have all been sidelined lately with injuries. In fact, Horton-Tucker, Nunn, and Ariza have yet to play in a game this NBA season!
Austin Reaves and Rajon Rondo are both dealing with what are being called “minor” hamstring injuries by the Lakers and they are not expected to miss a large chunk of time, but LeBron James being sidelined is definitely concerning for this team.
LeBron James missed two games early on in the season with a sore right ankle, the same ankle he injured and missed over a month of time with last season, and the 17x NBA All-Star is now dealing with an abdominal injury. Originally, The Athlete’s Shams Charania reported on November 4 that James would miss at least one week with this abdominal injury, but now recent reports suggest the Lakers’ star could miss more time.
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Now, the Athletic’s Bill Oram recently reported that the severity of LeBron James’ injury is unknown at this time and that Lakers’ former head strength and conditioning coach Tim DiFrancesco said that the most minor strain could still take two to six weeks to heal.
“Especially the way he plays, it’s tough for me to see him getting back under four weeks,” DiFrancesco told Oram in regards to LeBron James’ injury. “These are such delicate injuries that can respond to rest with pain relief quickly, but they are highly susceptible to re-injury if returned too quickly.”
Again, LeBron James’ projected recovery date is up-in-the-air and does depend on not only the severity of the injury, but how well he is doing in terms of recovery and on-court activities. If he feels no pain and wants to play, the Lakers will likely let him come back, but they are going to be cautious, especially given that they are championship favorites in the NBA.
LeBron has missed the Lakers’ last four games and in six total games without him this year, Los Angeles is 3-3. Without James on the court, the Lakers have struggled to find production from other players on their roster, but Carmelo Anthony, Anthony Davis, and Russell Westbrook have started to settle into a rhythm together.
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As for some of the other key names currently sidelined in Los Angeles, Kendrick Nunn is dealing with a bone bruise in his right knee and the team said on October 21 that he would be re-evaluated in 2-3 weeks. “(Nunn is) still a ways away. I don’t know what the exact timeline is,” Vogel said a few weeks back. “He just started experiencing some soreness in that knee right around the time when he had an ankle sprain, and it was concerning enough to have it looked at.”
“They determined that to be safe, given the area in the knee that it was, that he needed to be off it for some time.” The Lakers are expected to give an update on Nunn’s status moving forward within the next few days, but as of right now, he is still listed as being out indefinitely.
Talen Horton-Tucker underwent surgery before the season for a torn ligament in his right thumb and has been cleared for contact by the team, but he is only doing “1-on-1 and 2-on-2 stuff right now,” according to Lakers’ head coach Frank Vogel.
While Horton-Tucker is closer to being back than Kendrick Nunn at the moment, both guys are still out for the next couple of weeks as they look to get up-to-speed with the rest of the team and finally get healthy for once.
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If the Lakers are to be the championship-contending team many thought they would and could be to begin the season, they are not only going to need their team at full strength by midseason, but they are going to need LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Russell Westbrook to remain on the court.
LeBron James being out right now is definitely a “yellow flag” for this team, but there is nothing to worry about too much yet.
