3:58pm: An MRI revealed that James has a left adductor strain, Ham told reporters (Twitter links via McMenamin). He’s officially listed as doubtful for Friday’s contest against Sacramento and is considered day-to-day.
7:41am: Lakers star LeBron James left Wednesday’s loss to the Clippers in the fourth quarter and didn’t return due to what the team referred to as left leg soreness. As Dave McMenamin of ESPN reports, James said after the game that it was a groin issue, explaining that he felt a “little spasm or strain in my groin” while posting up Clippers forward Paul George.
According to McMenamin, James is expected to undergo additional testing and medical imaging on Thursday to determine the severity of the injury. The veteran forward had already been battling left foot soreness, having initially been listed as questionable to play on Wednesday.
James previously suffered a tear in his left groin on Christmas Day in 2018 and missed 17 games as a result of the injury. Asked to compare that injury to this one, the 37-year-old said it’s “not as bad” this time around, per McMenamin. He didn’t even rule out the possibility of returning to action on Friday when the Lakers host Sacramento.
“I’ll go around (the clock) treatment for 24 hours, and if it’s OK on Friday, I’ll be in the lineup,” James said.
With Wednesday’s loss, the Lakers dropped to 2-9 to open the season, so it seems like things couldn’t get much worse if LeBron does have to miss time. However, as Jovan Buha of The Athletic observes, the team has been 3.1 points per 100 possessions better with James on the court so far this season. He had scored 30 points in 32 minutes before exiting Wednesday’s game.
“I mean it’s just a lot of adversity,” Lakers head coach Darvin Ham said after the loss, according to McMenamin. “(James) has been trying his heart out just to be there for us and play at a high level. I thought he had it going really, really well tonight. But it just is something that it’s the NBA season, man. You got to be ready for a little bit of everything. We’ll see once he gets evaluated, and we’ll be ready to move forward.”
Father Time remains undefeated.
The Lakers are gonna have a long road back. It pains me to throw shade at my guy Anthony Davis, but that trade, is gonna be a really tough pill to swallow moving forward.
LeBron finished 4th in PER and 5th in BPM last year, during his age 37 season.
Let’s give him more than 10 games this year before we start declaring victory for Father Time?
Last year, LeBron was terrific. He has been fine when healthy this year. However, Father Time is why he continues to get sidelined by nagging injuries.
The problem is not efficiency with LeBron but being over played with too many minutes. At his age he shouldn’t be much over 30 minutes a game. He could score 30 points a game but on a team with no bench and over played by a coach that is desperate for wins it not good. He needs to be the second or third option on a deep team and lakers are the wrong team for him to be on.
LeBron is fine, it’s the rest of the team that is horrible. If LeBron had a good supporting cast, he wouldn’t have to do so much on this team and would be fresher.
The lakers won the title no matter what happens after the trade remains a W.
Father Time is still well over .500 – but definitely not undefeated anymore
Looks like the Pelicans are getting Wemby…
Hope he is back in time for that playoff run
Groin pull is the common cold of injuries for middle aged male athletes. I get that Lebron is super human, but coming back too quickly could become an even bigger disaster.
I pulled a groin brushing my teeth ..
FATHER TIME SEZ:
Tempus Fugit
Dang he was having a great game best game of the season. Still make no sense why Rob Pelinka got extended. Besides the championship he has done nothing but make the team terrible.
he must have naked pics of Jeanie . . . oh, wait, everyone does
Watch his postgame he legit said he needs to learn how to flop! Fool you’re already the MOST EGREGIOUS FLOPPER IN THE LEAGUE!!!!!
Lakers are dead last in Offensive Rating and 18th in Defensive, with -8.1 Net Rating (good for last in the league).
Yet here’s a counter-narrative. LeBron (20.1PER) and Davis (24.1PER), although having down years are still statistically All Star caliber player, even if they’re not playing at their peaks.
Russ is at 16.1PER and if you back out for just his 6th man minutes my guess is that PER is probably closer to 20.
The rest of this roster just might be historically bad. Here’s everyone playing over 10mpg
Reaves 9.4 PER (26 mpg)
Nunn 1.6 PER (14 mpg)
Walker 13.5 PER (30 mpg)
Brown 10.2 PER (30 mpg)
Beverley 6.9 PER (29mpg)
Ryan 6.6 PER (12 mpg)
Gabriel 13.4 PER (13 mpg)
JTA 2.2 PER (14 mpg)
To have (5) guys in your rotation w/ sub-10 PERs and not a single one outside of your big 3 with an above average PER is … IDK someone should do some historical work on that
Either way, for this roster to be competitive both 2 of the 3 out of Bron Dave and Westbrook would have to be at their MVP-level best and none of them are.
LBJ is close to washed-up. Chris Paul & his hamstring is what this reminds me of. Every season, and then a shortened playoff appearance due to Hamstring injury. Lakers fans look like they will be saved atleast the heartbreak of losing a player in the playoff’s. During a series you are winning, so the old guy your franchise is paying, and relying on too much can recover from a groin injury, and then lose the series when you’re ahead. It can always be worse
“LBJ is close to washed-up”
He’s at ~25/9/7 and is 17th in the league in minutes per game. The Lakers just put a horrible supporting cast around him. Pretty much the only thing that he’s not doing at his normal level is 3PT %.
He’s currently 17-71 from 3 (23.9%). His career average is around 35%. If he was shooting his career average, he’d be around 25-71, which would put him at 27.3/8.8/6.9, shooting .493/.352/.667. Would you be calling him ‘close to washed-up’ then?
We’re ten games into the season. You’re ripping LeBron over essentially eight missed 3s. Give it at least half the season before you start writing his career eulogy.
Bro did you see space jam 2 dudes washed up
This isn’t then, this is now. The beginning of a new season. This sort of thing happens to Men at his age. All the sudden 1 season they aren’t the force they previously were. Not much to argue with about that. He’s old, and the Lakers weren’t invested heavily in a 39 year old Kareem, or allocating & pinning franchise success to Kareem’s on court success. LBJ is not mobile anymore, and looks stiff, but still shoots 30 times a game without hesitation. James Harden looks very similar. Chris Paul, and Kyle Lowry also haven’t looked quite right this season. Be glad you got so many games out of LBJ before the decline. Harden is 5 years younger, so be happy as a fan you got more than most.
You can say it again xmaxx but it’s still a failed post
Nice call out rct
Well I guess you should delete it then. To fail, it would need to not be seen. rct said if his #’s were this, he would be that. They aren’t & LBJ isn’t… If thats insulting, too bad I have a right to free speech. There is no Law I have to agree about basketball or the Lakers with you
Not an issue of free speech, the governments not going to come down on you for you’re take on LeBron.
Their language used in both comment responses accusing me of ripping, failing, and being redundant are pretty childish responses. If you can’t beat them, join ’em.
I have been critical of LBJ and his hypocrisy when it comes to China. But I do have some empathy for a player who is reaching the end of the line. When he takes the ball, he’s still an absolute beast. His game is just not what it used to be.
I bet the CCP is disappointed.
LeBron just made a statement saying Kyrie apologized and should be able to play. Interesting. Not sure why LeBron doesn’t just stay silent here.
Unfortunately Lebron career is coming to an end . He stoped playing consistent defense since 2014 and only plays offense. Just going to enjoy is las couple of seasons before this top five talent of all time retires.
Lebron is playing great, the trouble is the team is mediocre at best. Their defense looks good and they are not far from being a play in for sure
And a lot of that is LEBRONS FAULT bc the lakers got all the guys HE WANTES
And the Lebron-a-groin-a-rama begins again
The man is Past his prime
He’s earned what he has 1000%
I say, let him heal…in fact team Dr’s should force him to sit as long as necessary to heal fully
The small silver lining is they can really see what they have Overall with Lebron out for a bit
They’ll be fine its very early
I’m not a fan of lebron, but it is a shame to the sport of basketball that one of the best ever is chasing the alltime scoring record on that dumpster fire team.
As a life long Laker fan, I think it’s a shame that he’ll break the record wearing purple and gold. LeBron’s time in LA has been nothing but a disappointment despite the bubble championship. The dude hijacked the franchise and has no respect for it’s past or future. For Kareem’s sake I hope the Lakers shut down LeBron before he breaks the record and trade him in the offseason wherever his cold heart desires.
Kareem & Karl Malone were talked about, paid, and used in the team’s strategy like they were 38 when they were 38. Why is a franchise building around an aged vet? Especially one that has been through it before? Twice. Jeannie Buss is brain-dead, and those nerdy glasses Rambis likes to wear must be for show, because I haven’t seen many smart moves out of the front office in quite a spell.
He might have a concussion too…supporting Kyrie on Twitter. Not cool, LBJ. Kyrie’s apology is less legitimate than your flops.