This happens a lot to older great players.
They try to play through injuries because they know they don’t have much time left and hurt themselves even more. LeBron has said he doesn’t have much time left, so missing the playoffs again wasn’t an option.
Unfortunately, that mindset might have made it impossible for the Lakers to make the playoffs because he is now out for at least two weeks, but likely a month, with his foot injury.
Shams has pointed out that LeBron has been struggling with the injury for a while via Lakers Daily.
“The interesting part here is I’m told that he initially hurt that right foot in January,” said Charania. “He was faced with a decision at that point to shut it down for an amount of time or keep playing on it. He decided because of where the Lakers were in January…he decided to keep playing on it.”
Should James be out for just two weeks, he would be out until March 14. That would leave him to miss the team’s next eight games.
If he were to miss three weeks, that would knock him out until March 21. Missing that much time would force him to miss the Lakers’ next 11 games.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the four-time champion’s right foot is expected to be reassessed in two weeks, though his return is expected to come after that.
It seems like the Lakers will use that checkpoint to see where they are in the standings and determine whether or not to bring James back.
If it becomes clear that the Lakers won’t make the play-in game, they will likely shut down LeBron for the season. That is why this next 11-game stretch is critical. It will be on Anthony Davis to keep them afloat. I believe at worse, they have to go 6-5 to stay in the race, but if they go on a prolonged losing streak, their season will be over.