The Los Angeles Lakers chances of making it into the playoffs took a significant blow on Sunday, February 26, when LeBron James ‘heard a pop’ while damaging his foot.
When speaking on a February 28 episode of Fox Sports Undisputed, NBA Analyst Skip Bayless questioned the legitimacy of LeBron’s injury, noting how the limited amount of information surrounding the superstar’s current status has left him questioning what is actually wrong with the 38-year-old forward.
“What exactly is his injury?… I need to know what the injury is. They won’t even say what the injury is. It’s another mysterious LeBron injury…Why don’t you tell us what the injury is,” Baylees said
Bayless has often been outspoken regarding LeBron; however, it would appear that the analyst isn’t convinced that the NBA’s All-Time leading scorer is actually unable to play.
Lakers Get Tough LeBron James Update
On February 28, The Athletics Shams Charania, who was reporting on the injury during an appearance on Fan Duel TV’s Run It Back, rocked Lakers nation when he reported that LeBron is set to miss between two or three weeks as he recovers from a foot injury, thus hurting the purple and gold’s chances of climbing the Western Conference standings.
“LeBron James is expected to miss an indefinite amount of time. It will be an extended period that he will be out. I’m told likely that it will be at least two or three weeks…As we saw on Sunday, he said on air he heard a pop…This injury comes at a devastating time, and inopportune time, there’s 21 games in the Lakers season left…And now LeBron James is gonna be out an extended period of time,” Charania said.
LeBron has been a significant driving force for the Lakers this season, providing them with averages of 29.5 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 6.9 assists per game while shooting 50.1% from the field and 30.8% from deep.
Anthony Davis Issues Statement on LeBron James’ Injury
On Tuesday, February 28, the Lakers fell to a 121-109 defeat at the hands of the Memphis Grizzlies. When speaking to the media following the game, Anthony Davis discussed the impact of losing LeBron to injury and the faith that he has in his team to keep things pushing in the right direction.
“We got a great team. I mean, more than enough to go out and get wins,” Davis said, “We got more than enough to get a win tonight. More than enough to get to win tomorrow. And so on and so forth. Just compete like we did tonight, and don’t turn the ball over. Guys, I think, played extremely hard. Obviously, his (LeBron’s) presence on the floor, his voice, his playmaking ability, scoring ability will definitely be missed, but other guys just got to step up. I’ll have to step up and just come out and be aggressive.”