LeBron James made his return to the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday night and looked just as good as he has all season in the team’s victory over the New York Knicks. For the first time in what seems like forever, the Lakers had both LeBron and Anthony Davis on the court together playing at a high level.
But most important for James following the contest was how his knee was feeling after. LeBron admitted that his knee didn’t feel perfect before the game, but got better as the game went on and his availability moving forward is the most important key to the Lakers’ success.
Speaking at practice on Monday though, James gave an update on how he is feeling a couple of days later.
“Obviously yesterday was like around-the-clock treatment and rest, as much rest as I can get,” James said. “And today will be the same thing. Obviously I feel pretty good today, looking forward to how I feel tomorrow and go from there. But I don’t think I have a setback and I just want to try to continue to keep the treatment and the rehab and things I’ve been doing over the last couple weeks to get back on the floor, so I’m gonna continue that over the next 24 hours.”
What was concerning about James’ knee injury was that it seemed to appear completely out of nowhere. After putting on an absolute gem of a performance against the Brooklyn Nets, there was some positivity surrounding the Lakers and that quickly went away with LeBron on the sideline.
And no one was more frustrated than James himself, who opened up about how his knee felt, causing him to sit out.
“Very frustrating obviously because the game that we had in Brooklyn, it was AD’s first game and I felt like it was a small dosage of what we could possibly see with the potential of our team and everybody getting back healthy. And then I wake up the morning of the Philly game and my knee is just a total wreak. It was just very disheartening to not be able to close out that trip after having started the trip 2-1. I feel like that was a big trip for us and me not being in those last three games, it hurt.”
There is no player who does more to ensure his body is in the best possible position than James, who spares no expense in taking care of himself and it has shown as he continues to be amongst the NBA’s elite players in his 19th NBA season. Even with Davis and Russell Westbrook, it is still James who makes everything happen for these Lakers.
As long as he continues to have no setbacks to his knee, the Lakers can finally begin to build up that chemistry and hopefully some sustained success as LeBron and Davis are playing at a level that gives them a chance against anyone.
Davis ‘expected nothing less’ from James in return for Lakers
James finished with a triple-double in his first game back in uniform in the Lakers’ victory over the Knicks and Davis wasn’t surprised as he expected it.
“Hell of a return. He did what he did,” Davis said. “I think he had a triple-double, right? He’s doing LeBron-type things. Expected nothing less from him. Efficient from the field; he did what he was supposed to do. He helped us for sure. Missed him. He’s a big part of our team with his voice, leadership, playmaking ability. He came back and showed it.”
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