LeBron James Return: Could Injury Make Lakers Star Rest?

LeBron James has not played since Christmas day.

When will the Los Angeles Laker be back?

“We found out that LeBron’s strain was a grade two (25-75% tear in the muscle) which can be upwards of 6 week recovery. 3.5 to 4 week would be a great return timeline,” tweeted Los Angeles-based Dr. Rajpal Brar, DPT.

James went down with a groin injury in the third quarter of the Los Angeles Lakers’  Christmas Day win over the Golden State Warriors. He met with trainers on the court, appeared to tell them he “felt it pop” and then headed to the locker room without assistance.

Since his injury, the Los Angeles Lakers are 4-7 in their last 11 games.

James underwent an MRI the following day and wrote on Twitter he “dodged a bullet.”

Today James was evaluated by team medical staff and physicians.

The Lakers announced that James will not travel with the team on the upcoming two-game road trip, has been cleared to return to practice commencing next week, and progress towards a return to gameplay thereafter.

As I reported last week via Heavy.com, James’ injury is more complex than originally thought.

A Lakers source stated that James could be out “until the end of February, or even longer.”

“LeBron could ‘rush back’ and return at the end of January,” a source told me via text message on Friday.

“But he could very well be out until the end of February, or even longer.”

Los Angeles Lakers signed James to a four-year, $153.3 million contract in July.

Lakers head coach, Luke Walton said he was “encouraged” by James’ participation in some parts of Tuesday’s workout.

“[James] does a lot of [running] when we’re not here,” said Walton.

“I don’t know the [exact] amount of running he’s doing. I just know he seems to be in good spirits.

James is averaging 27.3 points, 8.3 rebounds and 7.1 assists in 34.6 minutes per game this season.

“We’re going to do what’s best for him,” James’ agent Rich Paul told The Athletic’s Sam Amick.

“We’re going to do what’s best for him. The best-case scenario was three weeks, the worst-case was six weeks, and we’re right on schedule. He’ll improve his workload, and he’ll be day to day from there.”

Added Paul:

“Look, LeBron is in his 16th year, and he’s a proven guy. He doesn’t owe nothing to nobody. When he’s ready to be back, he’ll be back. It’s as simple as that. Until then, he’s going to root his teammates on and try to help them as best he can.”

That begs the question: If you’re LeBron James do you rest? Or do you rush to come back?

The Los Angeles Lakers currently hold a 24-21 record and are sitting in eighth place in the NBA’s Western Conference. 

The LeBron-less Los Angeles Lakers play the Oklahoma City Thunder Thursday night.

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