LeBron James has been sidelined for three weeks with a groin injury since the Los Angeles Lakers’ stirring Christmas Day victory over the defending champion Golden State Warriors.
It was reported earlier this morning that James will not travel with the team on its current road trip to Oklahoma City and Houston, setting up the Lakers, who have already fallen to 4-7 without their superstar, as significant underdogs in their next two games.
Fans, and likely the NBA, had been hopeful that James would return for Golden State’s nationally-televised trip to Los Angeles on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, another one of the league’s premier holidays. However, James’ agent Rich Paul made clear today that James is taking full precautions with his recovery and not rushing back despite the difficulty of the Lakers’ upcoming schedule.
Paul told The Athletic‘s Joe Vardon over the phone that they’re on the same timeline they’ve been on since the beginning.
“We don’t give a sh*t what nobody thinks or says. We’re going to do what’s best for him. The best-case scenario was three weeks, the worst-case was six weeks, and we’re right on schedule. He’ll improve his workload, and he’ll be day to day from there….
Obviously he cares (about their struggles). The man wants to play. He’s f*cking itching to play, but he can’t put himself in that situation. It’s just, you’ve really got to do the right thing and it has zero to do with his age, or the fact that he’s played 16 seasons – nothing to do with that. This is a tendon. It’s not a shoulder, or an ankle, or an elbow. The smart thing to do is to do the smart thing. You can’t allow media, or the fact that the team might be losing, to dictate what’s best for you, and we won’t. He’s progressing. He’s not ready yet.”
The Athletic had reported Monday that James was given a three-week timetable back on Christmas, though that was not public knowledge. This is the first indication that there is an upper limit for James’ injury absence. If he is out for a full six weeks, he would miss an additional nine games for Los Angeles. In the hotly contested Western Conference, another 3-6 or worse stretch would dig them quite the hole for LeBron to have to lead them out of in the playoff race.
