The Los Angeles Lakers entered the Boston Celtics of the Celtics on Saturday who made a sequence of eight consecutive victories, but they left after losing more than the match.
With 6:44 am to play in the fourth quarter, LeBron James left the match while the Lakers progressed during their attempt to return 22 points, but he did not return. He was excluded for the match with a left groin tension, and when head coach JJ Redick spoke later, he had no update. A source said Dave McMenamin d’EspnHowever, that the initial thought is that James will be sidelined for a few weeks, not days.
James took a more optimistic tone in his post-match availability, but did not offer a specific calendar when he was asked what extent he was concerned about the injury.
“Not much concern”, he said. “Obviously, I’m day by day. I’m going to watch it every day and see if it’s better. We will take the appropriate measures to see what we have to do to go ahead.”
The injury came as James went to the basket against Jaylen Brown. He tried a spin movement and followed this with two fake heads, finally converting the lay-up. James had a slight soft after the scoring, but tried to play in defense on the following possession.
During the trip that followed, Brown led for a quick lay-up and James obviously underlined the bench to ask to be removed from the game.
“The last score I had on Jaylen Brown, probably extended it a little too much,” said James after the match. “A couple pivots and then when I landed, I felt it.”
The groin stumps can be delicate injuries. James, in particular, suffered a tear in the left groin at Christmas 2018 in a match against the Golden State Warriors who ended up derailing his season, but he said that one was much worse than the one on Saturday evening. In November 2022, he left a match against the Clippers of Los Angeles with another groin injury, and finally missed five games when he recovered. The severity of the tension will greatly help determine how long this injury potentially costs James.
The Lakers prospered recently, and although the acquisition of Luka Dončić was an important part, James was the catalyst of the team. The Lakers went 18-3 in their 21 previous games entering Saturday, and James collected on average 27.4 points, 9.4 rebounds and 7.9 assists in this period on very high efficiency while playing excellent defense. Now, the Lakers will have to adapt to life without him at the moment, and James may have to prepare for the end of a legendary sequence.
James did an all-NBA team 20 years in a row. However, having played only 58 games so far this season, it is still seven shy from the minimum of 65 games. If this injury keeps it away for a few weeks, we could consider our first set of all-NBA teams so as not to present James since 2004.
