The Los Angeles Lakers confirmed the news none of their fans wanted to read. LeBron James will miss the next three weeks with an injured right foot, and now their season is pretty much hanging by a thread.
“LeBron James has been evaluated by Lakers team physicians and medical staff, and it has been determined that he has sustained a right foot tendon injury. James will be reevaluated in approximately three weeks,” the team said in a statement.
However, as worrisome as this situation might be, it seems like it could’ve gone a lot worse for the purple and gold. According to NBA insider Chris Haynes, James actually avoided surgery and could even play through his injury.
LeBron Avoided Surgery, Claims Insider
“So what I can say on LeBron is that sources did inform me that he will not require surgery,” Haynes said on the #thisleague Uncut Podcast. “That’s good news. […] Could LeBron get out there and play right now? It’d be a risk, but I think 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 to win. They’ve got to keep winning,” Haynes added. “They’ve got to buy him time.”
Needless to say, there’s no way they should think about risking James at this point in his career. He needs to think about the future and the years he’s got left, so they need to bring their A-Game and hold the fort down while he heals and works his way back to the court.