After he broke Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s all-time career scoring record on Tuesday, LeBron James will not play in Thursday’s contest between the Los Angeles Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks at Crypto.com Arena.
The culprit is a bout with left foot soreness that he has been dealing with for some time. But the good news, according to head coach Darvin Ham, is that nothing concerning came up when imaging was done.
Darvin Ham says LeBron James had medical imaging taken on his left foot and said “thankfully” it only showed “normal wear and tear”
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) February 10, 2023
Despite his left foot not being 100 percent for a good chunk of this season, James has been playing his usual outstanding basketball.
He’s averaging 30.2 points on 50.8 percent shooting, 8.5 rebounds and 7.0 assists per game this season, and once again, he will be one of the captains of the NBA All-Star Game, which will be played in Salt Lake City this year.
On Tuesday, versus the Oklahoma City Thunder, James was a bit shaky to start the contest, but he heated up in the second quarter, and by halftime, it looked inevitable he would shatter Abdul-Jabbar’s record on that night.
He did so near the end of the third quarter by hitting a fadeaway jumper that gave him 36 points on the night.
However, James petered out afterward, as he was nearly invisible in the fourth quarter, and the excitement at Crypto.com Arena quickly disappeared.
As a result of James’ fire going out, the Lakers lost to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and crew, 133-130.
Since then, they have made two major trades, sending out Russell Westbrook in a three-team deal for D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt on Wednesday, then trading guard Patrick Beverley for center Mo Bamba on Thursday.
All of a sudden, Los Angeles has addressed its lack of 3-point shooting while bringing in two big men who can defend in Vanderbilt and Bamba.
Perhaps these moves won’t make James feel like he has a real shot at his fifth NBA championship, but he will certainly have a lot more help now, not to mention teammates that fit much better around him.
