NBA Rumors: The early indications are that LeBron James will miss 'weeks' and not 'days' with his groin injury.
Over the last few months of the season, there haven't been many teams in the NBA that have played better than the Los Angeles Lakers. After an inconsistent start to the season, the Lakers have done an excellent job in turning their year around and have risen all the way up toward being in the conversation to finish as a top-2 seed in the Western Conference standings. However, their momentum may have taken a huge hit.
LeBron James, the heart and soul of the Lakers, suffered a groin injury against the Boston Celtics Saturday night that is expected to sideline him for a while. The question is, how much time will LeBron miss, and how will it impact the Lakers? With just 20 games left in the regular season, there isn't a huge margin for error for the Lakers. Without LeBron, their path toward finishing as a top-2 seed in the West just got a whole lot more difficult.
How much time LeBron James could miss with the injury
According to ESPN reporter Dave McMenamin, the expectation is that LeBron will miss "weeks" due to the injury and not merely "days." Shortly after the game, LeBron attempted to downplay the injury and told reporters that he would be considered "day to day." However, it does seem as if LeBron may not be that lucky.
I do suppose it would be foolish to bet against LeBron. Over the course of his career, LeBron has been one of the most durable star players in league history. He's had a couple of injuries as he's continued to age over the last few seasons that have knocked him out for an extended period of time, but for the most part, LeBron has not missed much action because of injuries.
As the Lakers head into the final stretch of the season, the hope is that LeBron will be able to heal quickly. At 40 years old, though, I'm not sure how smart it would be for the Lakers to rush him back. Los Angeles is likely going to be smart with this injury. They're going to play their cards close to their chest. What complicates things is the fact that the Lakers are in a fight in the standings for the No. 2 overall seed in the West standings.
If they're going to hold off the Denver Nuggets, you'd imagine they're going to need a healthy LeBron. Even losing him for a couple of weeks could have a huge impact on their playoff positioning. At this point, the Lakers may not have many options other than hoping Luka can go nuclear over the next couple of weeks until LeBron can return.