In the third quarter against the Golden State Warriors, LeBron James slipped but was able to recover the basketball and pass of to Lonzo Ball.
Unfortunately, James asked for a timeout on the very next possession and headed back to the locker room. After initially being ruled questionable, James was eventually ruled out for the remainder of the game as the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Warriors, 127-101.
As head coach Luke Walton shared James will undergo an MRI on Wednesday, an initial exam appears to be positive, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo! Sports:
Yahoo Sources: An initial exam on LeBron James reveals all is intact and that it’s a slight groin strain. It could have been worse.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) December 26, 2018
Before James headed back to the locker room, replays showed the 33-year-old informing the training staff he felt a ‘pop.’ If it is ultimately just a slight groin strain, James and the Lakers will be extremely fortunate considering the circumstances.
For the Lakers, they showed great poise when James headed back to the locker room. As they saw their lead dwindle to two points late in the third quarter, Ivica Zubac (18 points and 11 rebounds) and Rajon Rondo (15 points and 10 assists) made winning plays down the stretch.
With the Lakers having a day to prepare for the Sacramento Kings, the hope is James will not miss too much time.
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