Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James has been spectacular since turning 38 years of age. Since Dec. 30, James is averaging 34.7 points, 9.4 rebounds and 8.3 assists per game. He’s doing all of this with an ankle/foot injury that has caused him to miss three of the Lakers’ 17 games in that span.
His most recent missed game came on Jan. 30 against the Brooklyn Nets, a game in which Anthony Davis also sat out due to his own foot injury. While stories circulate that James’ injury may be worse than he’s letting on, he continues to play through it.
Following the team’s overtime win over the New York Knicks, James spoke about the day-to-day management of the injury, via NBA.com:
“Every day is its own challenge, but I work myself around the clock and some days are better than others. Tonight it was good enough for me to get on the floor and try to make some plays happen for out team to win. It’s a day-to-day thing.”
James is continuing to play through the injury as the Lakers fight to get back into the postseason picture. As of games ending on Feb. 1, the Lakers sit at 13th in the Western Conference with a 24-28 record. They are two games back of the No. 10 seed and the Play-In Tournament, and they’re three games back of the playoffs at No. 6.
James is also 89 points away from passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the all-time points scored record. For LeBron, there is plenty of motivation to try and fight through the injury, even as he has been listed as questionable on nearly every injury report.
If the Lakers are going to make a run at the postseason, they need James — and Davis — to stay as healthy as possible while still playing in a majority of games. For now, the plan appears to be to try and fight through it while taking sporadic games off on days where the foot injury is particularly disruptive.
James not feel added pressure with scoring title looming
While James is absolutely aware that he is nearing Abdul-Jabbar’s record, he is not putting any extra pressure on himself to go out and perform. LeBron said that he didn’t get to this point in his career by constantly thinking about breaking records.
James is just a few games away from setting a record many thought was untouchable. Hopefully, he can reach that mountaintop while leading L.A. to a few more victories.
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