LeBron James sustained a right foot injury late in the third quarter of the Lakers' 111-108 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday; The Lakers are now bracing for the worst as reports suggest he may be set for a substantial spell on the sidelines
Friday 3 March 2023 21:13, UK
LeBron James claimed to "hear a pop" in his right ankle after landing awkwardly on it while missing a layup in the third quarter of the Los Angeles Lakers' 111-108 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday.
James was able to finish the game out and help his team win from a 27-point deficit - the biggest comeback victory in the NBA this season - but that might have been to his own detriment with the latest reports now suggesting he may be set for a substantial spell on the sidelines.
The veteran played for an additional 20 minutes in the fourth quarter, but was seen limping around the locker room in the immediate aftermath of the game. Head coach Darvin Ham claimed to have not known that his star player had injured himself so seriously.
"I didn't hear that it popped. I didn't hear him say that at all."
The injury occurred as James drove on Dwight Powell and missed a layup with three minutes remaining. He tried to plant his foot in the paint and twisted it awkwardly on the way down. As he lay on the floor, grimacing, he turned to the Lakers bench and said "I heard a pop", but this was only picked up by the floor microphones on the telecast.
He received some treatment on the side but then went on to play through the pain to see out the game, scoring 26 points, eight rebounds and three assists in 37 minutes.
"It's been better," James said later in a press conference. "That's for sure. But I definitely wasn't going to go to the locker room and not finish the game out tonight. Just understood the importance of the game, and then with the momentum that we had, I felt like we could still win after being down".
"We'll monitor it the next couple days, see how it feels and go from there."
The latest update since that declaration suggests that the injury is more serious than initially thought, and that the Lakers are searching for multiple opinions and undergoing multiple tests before making a statement on how long he could spend away from the action.
They currently sit 12th in the Western Conference, a game from 10th and the final spot in the play-in tournament, and only 2 1/2 games behind the Dallas Mavericks in the race for sixth.
If James - a 19-time All-Star, playing in his 20th NBA season - misses extended time, the Lakers' task of getting in becomes significantly tougher.
