The Los Angeles Lakers’ winning streak came to an end Saturday night at the hands of the Boston Celtics, but the main focus has been on the health status of LeBron James. The future Hall of Famer suffered a groin injury in the fourth quarter and would not return to the floor.
Lakers’ LeBron James not concerned about groin injury
ESPN’s Dave McMenamin said shortly after the game that James could be sidelined for “weeks, not days” as a result of the injury. However, James himself is not super concerned about the injury and thinks that he will be able to recover in time for the postseason.
“Not much concern,” James said to reporters. “Obviously, we’ll go day-to-day and look at it each day and see if it gets better and then take the proper measures and see what we need to do moving forward.”
James added that the injury is not as serious as his groin issue in 2018 that caused him to miss 17 games (h/t Yahoo Sports’ Jack Baer). However, groin issues can be tricky, and especially at James’ advanced age of 40-years-old, the Lakers need to be extra cautious with him.
The Lakers have had a great season with James and Luka Doncic
Los Angeles has enjoyed a dream season under the leadership of James and midseason acquisition Luka Doncic. They have soared to the third seed in the Western Conference with a 40-22 record and have won 18 of their last 22 games.
Losing James for a significant amount of time would be a massive blow for the Lakers. They are already without Rui Hachimura due to a knee issue, and he is not expected to be back on the court for at least another week, per head coach JJ Redick.
Los Angeles has a tough schedule ahead of them, with the Bucks, Nuggets, and Suns coming up following their next game against the Brooklyn Nets on Monday. They will likely have to get through those games without James and it is still unclear when he will be able to return to the court.