Just when things were starting to click for the Los Angeles Lakers and their new-look roster, they received some bad injury news on LeBron James.
James injured his right foot/ankle during Sunday afternoon’s comeback victory over the Dallas Mavericks. He was able to stay in the game and actually played extremely well, but then admitted that his foot was feeling sore and was noticeably limping walking out of the arena.
While the hope was that LeBron wouldn’t miss that much time, it was reported on Monday night that there was fear within the organization that wouldn’t be the case as the injury was significant.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, James will be reassessed in a couple of weeks and then will decide from there when he can return based on where the Lakers are at in the standings:
ESPN Sources: LeBron James’s right foot is expected to be reassessed in two weeks to see how much progress he’s made, but timeline on return expected to extend beyond that checkpoint. Where Lakers reside in standings by then could impact how soon it makes sense for him to return.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 28, 2023
While this is not ideal, it also isn’t the worst-case scenario for the Lakers as it looks like James will be able to return and play again this season.
The Lakers currently sit in 12th place in the Western Conference at 29-32 though, so the team has work to do to get back in postseason contention and will have to manage without James for at least a couple of weeks.
The good thing is that the Lakers roster is much more equipped to being able to play without James now than it was before the trade deadline.
Anthony Davis will obviously need to step up and get back to being an MVP-caliber player for the Lakers. He won’t need to do it alone though as D’Angelo Russell and Dennis Schroder will handle ball-handling duties while Jarred Vanderbilt and Rui Hachimura will help provide size on the wing.
The Lakers have eight games over the next two weeks, which will be vital in determining the direction of this season.
Davis says confidence has never wavered
After dealing with an injury of his own, Davis seems to be rounding into form after a solid game against the Mavericks on Sunday afternoon. Afterward, Davis said that his confidence has never wavered which is good to see considering he will need to play at a superstar level with James out.
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