LeBron exited the Lakers’ loss to the Kings in the fourth quarter due to a lingering left ankle injury.
LeBron James downplayed the extent of the lingering ankle injury that forced him to exit the Los Angeles Lakers 130-120 loss to the Sacramento Kings at Crypto.com Arena with 3:56 to go in the fourth quarter.
LeBron headed to the locker room with the Lakers’ down by 14. Darvin Ham said he saw LeBron “grimace” and called a timeout so he could sub out. Ham insisted he had no information on the injury, other than LeBron was going through the “evaluation process” and that the Lakers would issue an update later on.
LeBron James went back to the Lakers locker room as LA trailed the Kings 14 with 3:56 left.pic.twitter.com/Hl5MnrXHLJ
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) March 7, 2024
Taking questions at his locker a few minutes later, LeBron said the left ankle injury he’s been managing for months flared up.
“I’ll be alright,” he said.
LeBron is customarily listed on the Lakers’ injury report as questionable with “left ankle peroneal tendinopathy” — a.k.a wear-and-near soreness of a tendon on the outer foot/ankle. The 39-year-old has missed nine games this season, the majority of which have been due to the ankle.
At the time of his exit, LeBron had 31 points on 10-of-16 shooting and 13 assists in 36 minutes. He said his ankle felt fine for most of the night, as he said it did in the Lakers’ win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday.
With their deflating loss to the Kings, the Lakers (34-30) dropped back to the No. 10 seed in the West — three games behind the Phoenix Suns (36-36) for the No. 6 spot.
In his 21st season, LeBron is averaging 25.2 points, 7.1 rebounds and 7.9 assists on .527/.407/.732 shooting splits. He was just named Western Conference Player of the Week for a week that included vintage crunch-time performances on consecutive nights and becoming the first player in NBA history to score 40,000 regular season points.
Los Angeles hosts the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday, then faces the Minnesota Timberwolves, Kings again, and the Golden State Warriors.
About the Author
Michael has been the Lakers beat reporter for ClutchPoints since 2021. He also covers golf and Hollywood. One day, he hopes to see the New York Jets win another playoff game.
Inspirations: Paul Giamatti, Shane Falco, Phife Dawg.
NYC/USC/LA
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