Getty LeBron James sits next to Anthony Davis on the Lakers' bench.
Los Angeles Lakers small forward LeBron James is dealing with a left knee injury. The four-time MVP, who has never undergone surgery in his career, won’t return to the court until the swelling in his knee subsides, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN.
The Lakers believe LeBron, who is 37 and in his 19th season, is at risk for further injury if he plays before the swelling goes down in his ailing knee.
LeBron is exploring all options when it comes to treating his knee. However, he won’t undergo a controversial procedure many players use.
LeBron Won’t Do PRP
LeBron and his camp have ruled out using Platelet-rich plasma therapy (PRP), according to McMenamin. The Dallas Mavericks commonly use PRP injections to stimulate or assist healing, per Tim MacMahon of ESPN, but the King has chosen not to.
“I’m told from a source close to LeBron they are exploring all options when it comes to treatment. Except they’ve ruled out the possibility of PRP,” McMenamin reported on ESPN. “He will not be going with PRP as part of his ramp-up to try to get back onto the court.”
According to HSS.edu, PRP therapy uses “injections of a concentration of a patient’s own platelets to accelerate the healing of injured tendons, ligaments, muscles and joints.” In simpler terms, the injections use elements of the patient’s own blood.
One reason some players may not like PRP therapy is that the injections restart their healing process. If LeBron did PRP, he would probably be sidelined for a longer period of time and the Lakers can’t afford that.
Lakers Are Ninth Seed in West
The Lakers are in ninth place in the Western Conference standings. They would be in the play-in tournament for the second straight year if the regular season ended today despite having five future Hall of Famers on the team in LeBron, Russell Westbrook, Anthony Davis, Dwight Howard and Carmelo Anthony.
LeBron has appeared in 36 games this season. The four-time champion is averaging 29.1 points, 7.7 rebounds and 6.3 assists while shooting 52.2% from the field, 35.2% from beyond the arc and 75.9% from the free-throw line. The Lakers are 19-17 with LBJ in the lineup and 5-10 without him.
The more games LeBron misses, the lower Los Angeles will likely fall in the West standings moving forward.
In a December appearance on Spectrum SportsNet’s Backstage Lakers, Los Angeles general manager Rob Pelinka said he traded for Westbrook to try and lessen the load on LeBron. The UCLA product is the NBA’s all-time leader in triple-doubles.
“I think in kind of building the roster in the offseason, obviously we made a big trade for Russell Westbrook to get another playmaker,” Pelinka said, via Jacob Rude of SB Nation’s Silver Screen & Roll. “We knew that as LeBron journeyed towards Year 19 in the league and then Year 20, we couldn’t rely on him as the sole engine for our team, so we made that trade really wanting to dimensionalize the roster with a combination of versatility, guys that could shoot and also defenders.”
On paper, the Lakers looked like a championship contender since they had a Big Three of LeBron, Westbrook and Davis. However, Westbrook hasn’t played well this season. He leads the NBA in turnovers and has a plus-minus of -99.
Before the season started, the Lakers were hopeful that Westbrook could run the offense efficiently if LeBron had to miss games. Unfortunately, the one-time MVP hasn’t been able to and his struggles have played a major role in the Lakers’ poor record and LeBron’s high usage rate.