Solomon Hill defends himself from accusations that he intentionally hurt Lebron James, saying he would not disrespect the game like that.
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LeBron James’s iron-man season has been put on halt for the foreseeable future as he sustained a right ankle sprain in last night’s game featuring the Los Angeles Lakers and the Atlanta Hawks.
Despite him exiting the game at the start of the 2nd quarter, his record of scoring in double digits in 1036 games still stands. LeBron did try to shake it off but eventually was escorted back to the Lakers room and did not return.
The Hawks would go on to win the game, making it 8 straight wins under new head coach Nate McMillan. Following the end of the game, MRI results showed that James has suffered a right ankle sprain and will have no current timetable for his return.
LeBron James tweaked his right ankle then returned to the game briefly before heading to the locker room.
Hoping for the best for LeBron. 🙏 pic.twitter.com/ySToneJwhC— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) March 20, 2021
Social media erupted in response to the injury, including LeBron James himself taking to Twitter to address it. However, Lakers big-man Montrezl Harrell’s comments on the injury stuck out the most amidst the others.
Montrezl Harrell accuses Solomon Hill of not making a basketball play against LeBron James
Montrezl Harrell took to his postgame presser to air out his frustration on having now lost their second superstar to injury. He lobbied for to Solomon Hill receive a worse punishment than a common foul because the play he made in trying to gain possession of the ball, which ultimately led to LeBron James’s injury, was “not a basketball play”.
Solomon Hill immediately took to Twitter to dismiss the notion that he had done this on purpose and that he would never disrespect the game like that.
would never disrespect the game and take a player out purposely… he knows that. that’s all that matters to me. praying for a speedy recovery. #riptothementionstho #moredmsthansaweetie
— solomon hill (@solohill) March 20, 2021
There is no clear or conclusive evidence that Hill went out of his way to hurt LeBron James in the process of trying to dive for the ball. From the looks of it, it seems as though the Atlanta forward was simply trying to stop the ball from going out of bounds and nothing more.
The NBA is unlikely to conduct any sort of investigation or further assessment of the play, despite Harrell’s pleas.