The Los Angeles Lakers have done well to stay afloat and are even climbing the standings despite LeBron James being sidelined.
James has been tending to a right tendon injury in his foot and is expected to be re-evaluated in a couple of weeks. With the Lakers staying competitive, James has reportedly been turning over every stone to return before the 2022-23 season ends.
Prior to the loss to the New York Knicks, Darvin Ham said there have been no setbacks with James’s rehab. “Everything is going according to plan,” Ham said.
Outside of his physical health, Ham also discussed how the time off has helped James mentally. “I’ve lived through this with Kobe and Giannis, there’s a variety of ways you can treat different injuries, and it’s also goof for him to just unplug a little bit. Not be detached necessarily, but just mentally get a little bit of a calming to everything that has transpired over the year. Our ups, our downs, him passing Kareem, people hardly ever talk about him becoming fourth in all-time assists.
“But just all of the attention that has been on him, people with cameras constantly in his presence, following him everywhere whether it’s home or on the road. And another thing they don’t talk about in Bronny. Bronny is about to take the next step and what his duties as a father and a husband on top of everything he’s doing professionally and more specifically in this year, which has been a really high-profile year. There’s been the trades with his teammates, so it’s been a lot. So it’s not just about him getting healthy, it’s about him being in a good place mentally and spiritually so we get the best version of him when he returns.”
It’s not just the physical that gets to players but also the mental. James has been in the league for 20 years and is the best at keeping all parts of himself fresh, so the mental break also has to be doing wonders for him.
Los Angeles has done well to survive in James’s absence, so hopefully they can continue to hold down the fort.
Anthony Davis says Lakers aren’t satisfied with Play-In Tournament spot
The loss to the Knicks dropped the Lakers back down the standings, making this upcoming stretch even more important. However, Davis admitted that he and the team aren’t satisfied with just making the Play-In Tournament and want to climb higher in the standings.
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