The Los Angeles Lakers had a great seven-game stretch before the All-Star break. Apart from their loss against the Denver Nuggets, the Lakers emerged victorious in six games, including wins over the Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks. Despite their incredible run of games, the Purple and Gold are still placed only 9th in the West. However, fans of the LA side will not be pleased to hear that LeBron James has been featured on the injury report.
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With merely 26 games remaining, each game will need to be approached with the utmost importance. LeBron James has been dealing with a left ankle injury for over a month. Even though this same injury has been the reason behind his name constantly being featured in the injury report, Bron missed only two games since the last week of January.
Unfortunately, LeBron James will not be putting on the jersey to go up against the Golden State Warriors tonight. The Lakers medical staff have added King James to the injury report and listed him as “Out” due to the left ankle peroneal tendinopathy injury.
LeBron James (left ankle) is out vs. Golden State, per the Lakers.
Here’s the rest of the injury report: pic.twitter.com/cTxbNjVjGu
— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) February 22, 2024
Apart from LeBron, the team will also miss out on the services of Christian Wood, Gabe Vincent, and Jarred Vanderbilt.
LeBron James was on the floor for just more than 13 minutes during the 2024 All-Star Game
The 2024 All-Star Game was surely a letdown. LeBron James being sidelined for the majority of the contest was a huge part of the reason. The 6ft 9” forward merely played for 13:48 minutes, his second-lowest game time across 20 All-Star Games.
After the Team West suffered a 211-186 blowout loss, James explained why he was benched for the entirety of the 2nd half.
“I definitely wasn’t going to put too much pressure on the game tonight for me, physically. I want to try to be as healthy as I can be. When we get to this last part of the season, it’s very important for us to make sure of that,” James said.
Even though James revealed that he was feeling “pretty good”, he did speak about the possibility of missing out on the clash against the Golden State Warriors.
“It possibly could,” James said. “Depends on the recovery process, so possibly, but we’ll see.”
The Golden State Warriors are right behind the Los Angeles Lakers in the standings. With LeBron James and several other players expected to miss out on the clash, Stephen Curry and Co. have a great shot at rising in the Western Conference. Hence, the Bay Area side, who are relatively injury-free, will enter the contests as the favorites.
The Lakers are two games behind the eighth spot Kings on the standings and would want to keep that to their reaching distance, in order to ensure their play-in spot. With a decent 4-3 record without the King, the LA side will surely look forward to a win in their next game.
