LeBron James cannot get fully healthy as he works his way back from an ankle injury, and it sounds like that might remain the case into the playoffs.
James returned last week after missing roughly six weeks with an ankle sprain. However, in just his second game back, he sat out the end of Sunday’s game against Toronto due to lingering soreness, and then missed the team’s win over Denver one night later.
It sounds like this will be a fact of life for James this season. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski said on “Get Up!” Wednesday that James is unlikely to be fully healthy for the playoffs and will simply have to manage the pain.
"I think [LeBron] is going to try to play again in the regular season. … He probably can't get [the ankle] fully healthy until the offseason. He's going to have to play with discomfort in the playoffs."@wojespn with the latest on LeBron. pic.twitter.com/vjI9htOcGJ
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) May 5, 2021
While not a huge shock, this is definitely not welcome news for the Lakers. James is central to their hopes of a repeat title, and the team has really struggled lately, dropping to sixth in the Western Conference and getting uncomfortably close to play-in territory.
If the Lakers want to repeat, this guy is probably going to have to step it up the rest of the way.
