Report: LeBron James is expected to be ‘as close to 100 percent as he can be’ for the playoffs

One NBA insider reports that Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James is expecting to be as close to 100 percent healthy as possible as the team gets set for the postseason.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski spoke (at the 35-second mark) about the health of James’ ankle that was tweaked during the Lakers’ regular season finale against the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday.

“I’m told that that ankle is fine,” Wojnarowski said. “Certainly, there’s been different degrees of soreness since he’s come back from that six-week layoff. He did tweak it there against New Orleans, but I’m told that he expects to be as close to 100 percent as he can be with that high ankle sprain that he’s had, but that he’s in pretty good shape for the start of their play-in.”

The Lakers begin the play-in portion on Wednesday night with a home game against the Golden State Warriors and face an uphill battle to defend their title.

One key factor in a possible postseason surge by the Lakers is the health of both James and Anthony Davis, who missed extended periods of play over the past few months.

Prior to the injuries to Davis and James, the Lakers were thriving, but their absences sent the team into a tailspin that put them in the play-in portion of the playoffs.

With both players now back, keeping them on the court offers the Lakers their best chance to defend the hard-fought title they won last season.