LeBron James didn’t seem too worried after straining his groin late in the fourth quarter of the Los Angeles Lakers’ 111-101 loss to Boston on Saturday night. He did, however, avoid giving any specific timeline on his recovery as the Lakers aim to continue their upward movement in the standings.
“Not much concern,” James said. “I’m obviously day-to-day. I’ll monitor it each day, see if it improves, and take the necessary steps to move forward.”
James exited the game with 6:44 remaining after contesting a layup from Jaylen Brown. He walked slowly to the huddle during the timeout and barely moved before heading to the locker room with the trainers. He ended the game with 22 points, 14 rebounds, and nine assists.
James reflected on his first season in Los Angeles back in 2018, when he suffered a groin injury during a Christmas Day game against Golden State. He missed 17 games after that and dealt with the injury for much of the remainder of the season.
“I’ve been through this before, and I know what type of injury we’re dealing with,” James said.
The good news for LeBron James is that he doesn’t think this groin injury is as serious as the one he suffered in 2018. He also mentioned thinking about his former teammate, Anthony Davis, who hurt his groin in his first game with the Dallas Mavericks after being traded for Luka Doncic.
“That’s crazy. But I thought about AD,” James said.
Doncic, for his part, stressed that James should take his time to heal properly.
“Obviously, he’s got to take his time,” Doncic said. “These injuries aren’t the worst, but they’re definitely tough to deal with.”
Despite the setback, James remains confident that his team, which had its eight-game win streak ended by Boston, can step up and maintain its position in the Western Conference standings. After the loss, the Lakers (40-22) dropped to third place behind Denver and face a challenging upcoming schedule.
The Lakers’ four-game road trip continues on Monday night against Brooklyn, with the trip wrapping up with games against Milwaukee and Denver on Thursday and Friday. After that, they’ll return home on March 16 for a four-game homestand, starting with Phoenix and ending with rematches against the Nuggets and Bucks.
James emphasized that the team’s approach remains the same regardless of who is in the lineup.
“It doesn’t matter who’s in the lineup, we have to play our game,” James said. “We’ve had players coming in and out of the lineup all season, and especially in the last six weeks. Nothing changes.”