Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James is really struggling with a foot injury, according to NBA insider Chris Haynes.
Haynes explained that James was dealing with pain in his foot when he broke the league’s all-time scoring record against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night. James missed the Lakers’ last game against the Milwaukee Bucks, and he is expected to sit again on Saturday night due to the injury.
“I was told that Tuesday game, the record breaking game, I was told LeBron was severely struggling with that foot injury he has,” Haynes said. “It’s something that’s been nagging him for a few weeks already. It gets to points where it just gets unbearable, and he plays through it, and he was really, people that talked to me said he was really struggling with that foot.
“The way it was explained to me is that – sometimes it flares up, different sides of his foot depending on, I guess the cut – the way that he plants certain times. The way it’s explained to me is that that might be something that lingers all season long, but it reached the dire point.”
This is a not a good sign for the Lakers, as the team desperately needs James in the lineup to have any chance at making a playoff run this season.
Los Angeles revamped its roster at the trade deadline to better fit around James and Anthony Davis, but now the team’s focus should be on making sure its superstar is healthy for the stretch run.
James has played in 44 games for the Lakers this season and has been dominant when he’s been in the lineup. The four-time NBA champion is averaging 30.2 points, 8.5 rebounds and 7.0 assists per game while shooting 50.8 percent from the field and 31.5 percent from beyond the arc.
Even with the foot injury, James has still performed at an extremely high level.
It’s unclear what the NBA’s all-time leading scorer needs to do to get past this foot injury, but it appears that rest is the key right now since he is missing his second straight game.
The Lakers currently hold the No. 13 seed in the Western Conference and have lost three straight games. They’re going to need to make a run soon if they want to at least get into the play-in tournament in the West.
James has dealt with injuries over the past few seasons, battling an ankle ailment as well as an abdominal injury. He also missed time earlier this season with an adductor strain.
The fact that the Lakers star is playing through the injury says a lot, but the team needs to be cautious about how much it pushes him if the playoffs and beyond are the goal for the team this season.
