LeBron James is set to miss the start of the regular season and possibly a good chunk of time beyond that as well.
The Los Angeles Lakers star James is facing an uncertain timeline to return to action for the team, Ashish Mathur of Lakers Daily reported this week. Mathur also quoted an unnamed NBA executive who believes that it is possible James could be out until December.
“LeBron’s body isn’t healing quickly anymore like it used to,” the executive was quoted as saying. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t play in October or November. The Lakers have to be careful with this injury, and I think they will be very, very cautious.”
James, who turns 41 years old later this year, is currently dealing with a sciatica issue on his right side. With the condition often seen in older adults, plenty have already expressed concern about James’ injury over social media.
Then last week, another troubling sign emerged about James. A report revealed that James first encountered the sciatica issue over the summer and has apparently been dealing with it for months now (full details here).
The 21-time NBA All-Star James is about to enter his 23rd season in the league, but this will be the first time ever that he is unavailable for Opening Night. What we know for certain is that James was given an initial timeline of 3-4 weeks with the injury (which he is now roughly a week into). But with the regular season set to begin on Oct. 21, it is possible that James could miss around 20 games to start the year if the fears of the unnamed executive above do indeed come to pass.
