The Los Angeles Lakers are right in the thick of the Play-In race, but their road got a lot more difficult when superstar LeBron James went down with a foot injury against the Dallas Mavericks. While LeBron gutted it out and finished the game, he is now expected to miss at least two weeks during the most crucial part of the Lakers’ season.
The severity of James’ injury is still unclear, but he is expected to seek multiple opinions on the next steps to take. One big concern was whether he would need surgery or if rest and rehab would be enough to get him back on the court and it sounds as if he and the Lakers received some good news on that front.
On the latest episode of #thisleague UNCUT with Chris Haynes and Marc Stein, Haynes revealed that LeBron’s injury won’t need surgery and it will be up to the Lakers’ ability to win without him to get him as much rest as possible:
“So what I can say on LeBron is that sources did inform me that he will not require surgery. That’s good news … Right now it’s all about time and the rehabbing process … Could LeBron get out there and play right now? It’d be a risk, but I think that he probably could if he necessarily had to. But it’s too much of a risk, it’s too much pain right now. The plan right now is to get him as much time to heal for this rehab process, but the Lakers have got to win. They’ve got to keep winning. They’ve got to buy him time.”
So far, the Lakers are 1-1 with LeBron sidelined after a huge road win over the Oklahoma City Thunder. The team has a huge five-game homestand upcoming with the first two of those contests being against two teams ahead of them in the standings in the Minnesota Timberwolves and Golden State Warriors.
The Lakers are more equipped to handle James’ absence than they were earlier in the season, but it will still require a full team effort led by Anthony Davis playing at his best. D’Angelo Russell returning from his own ankle injury will also help greatly, but at this stage, the Lakers have no room for excuses and no room for error. Hopefully they will be able to continue this push and give LeBron the time he needs to recover before returning for one final push.
Shaquille O’Neal makes bet about Lakers’ playoff push
One person who definitely believes in the Lakers’ playoff chances is Shaquille O’Neal and he was even willing to put a bit of a wager on them making the postseason.
Prior to the Lakers’ game against the Memphis Grizzlies, Dillon Brooks entered the building wearing an outfit inspired by WWE legend ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin. O’Neal wold then proclaim that if the Lakers failed to make the playoffs, he would wear the same outfit on the TNT’s final show of the season.
As entertaining as it would be to see O’Neal rock the outfit, the hope is that he will not have to sport that look unless he simply wants to.
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