LeBron James has been out of action for close to a month now and his injury is not helping Lakers’ chances of making it to the NBA playoffs.
LeBron had suffered a groin injury during that historic Christmas day win against the Warriors. James hobbled off the court, after contesting for a loose ball and hasn’t returned to play on court since.
The injury was initially diagnosed to be minor groin one, with LeBron slated to come back in no time.
But things haven’t panned out for the Lakers in the way that was initially confirmed, as it is now close to a month and there is no fixed date on when LeBron would return to action.
LeBron's injury was appearently not serious, but he's missed 13 games since he got injured on Christmas Day, and will likely miss some more.
Lakers are 5-8 without him, but it could be worse. If he doesn't come back soon, they could end up being a very low seed (6-8).
— O11O (@O11APIDE) January 20, 2019
Colin Cowherd thinks LeBron James' injury is causing 'real tension' with… https://t.co/bdAL16wg7N
This was a great take, great segment! No bias, just facts. Keep up the good work @ColinCowherd @TheHerd
— Necessary (@Nccsry) January 20, 2019
Lakers had initially suffered a massive slump post LeBron’s injury, losing 5 of their first 6 games without him. Kyle Kuzma and the young Lakers crew have steadied the ship in the last few games but they couldn’t prevent a James Harden led Rockets win in OT last night.
Now, with updates about LeBron’s comeback getting vaguer, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst has confirmed that Lakers are hiding something from the NBA fraternity.
He has blamed Lakers for causing a lot of confusion with respect to LeBron’s injury and his comeback date.
“It’s either that they were not truthful or that this injury is worse than they thought it was,” Windhorst said.
“Which is fine. He’s 34 years old, he’s never had an injury like this before.
“If it’s just taken longer to get back then it’s just taken longer to get back.” he added.
Windhorst has been particularly infuriated by how the statements from LeBron’s agent Rich Paul and the Lakers have been quite contrary to each other.
Brian Windhorst speculates potential Lakers cover up on LeBron James' injury – https://t.co/5SnaZ2MtMk #GoogleAlerts
— Ernst Nordholt (@ErnstNordholt) January 20, 2019
“But when you have the team saying one thing and you have his agent, Rich Paul, on the record saying this is a three-to-six week injury from day one, especially in the era right now where there is more of a demand for transparency because of the betting on these games… this is a worrisome thing.” he said.
“At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter how many games he’s missed because all that matters is when he comes back.” he added.
Windhorst is extremely sceptical with how the entire injury saga has been handled and feels that there is more to it than what the Lakers have revealed.
“Even the Lakers’ latest statement on this – they made a statement that he is going to practice in a week.
“I’ve never even heard of a press release where they say a guy is going to practice in a week, even that is odd.
“This whole thing has been handled oddly and I don’t know why but it’ not quite what we normally see” he concluded.
