{"id":112508,"date":"2024-12-16T13:58:47","date_gmt":"2024-12-16T18:58:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=112508"},"modified":"2024-12-16T13:58:47","modified_gmt":"2024-12-16T18:58:47","slug":"lebron-foot-injury-persists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/12\/16\/lebron-foot-injury-persists\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers Star Dealing With Injury Despite Leave of Absence"},"content":{"rendered":"

The recent LeBron James<\/a> absence from the Los Angeles Lakers for \u201cpersonal reasons\u201d caused some fans to be concerned about the aging star. In the Lakers vs Memphis Grizzlies game on Sunday night, James returned and showed why the time off may have been the perfect break. It is unclear whether James was out<\/a> due to a sore left foot or something else, but James<\/a> looked healthy in his return to the court. James stepping away from the Lakers may have been the perfect move, but this LeBron foot injury could be concerning.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lakers Star LeBron James Dealing With Injury Despite Leave of Absence<\/h2>\n

Lakers vs Memphis Game After The LeBron Foot Injury<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Despite the LeBron James absence over the last few days, he delivered an all-around performance on Sunday. He scored 18 points, eight rebounds, eight assists, and two blocks and played 34 minutes. Besides his last game before his leave of absence, James had been in a terrible shooting slump<\/a>. He is still shooting a respectable 36.5% from three this season but is shooting the second-lowest FG% of his last 15 seasons at 49.2%. James has also taken a step back defensively.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Anthony Davis<\/a>, who has been incredible all season, led the Lakers to victory. He scored 40 points and added 16 rebounds, two steals and a block. The Lakers improved to 14-12 with the win, tying for ninth in the competitive Western Conference standings.<\/span><\/p>\n

James Stepping Away from the Lakers<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Initially, the Lakers labeled the LeBron James absence as due to “personal reasons,” but <\/span>James later clarified<\/span><\/a> that lingering foot soreness necessitated the break. He revealed that the injury has been a persistent issue. It will require ongoing management as he continues to try and play as many games as possible. “It\u2019s an everyday thing,” James said, acknowledging the problem has been chronic. However, the brief period of rest allowed him to recover physically and mentally.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What the Lakers Will Do With the LeBron Foot Injury<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Lakers head coach JJ Redick<\/a> weighed in on the importance of managing James\u2019 workload moving forward. The strategy includes shorter bursts of playing time with more frequent rest periods. This should maximize James\u2019 effectiveness without putting too much mileage on him. Redick said<\/a>\u00a0the following regarding James’ minutes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cnot necessarily fewer minutes, but shorter runs so that he\u2019s not getting gassed and then quicker segments on the bench, and then he\u2019s back in. So there\u2019s different ways to do it than just to say we\u2019re going to rest you, and you\u2019re going to sit out the game.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Despite his age and the wear and tear of a 22-year career, he continues to produce at an elite level, averaging 22.8 points, eight rebounds, and 9.1 assists this season. Looking ahead, the Lakers will need to carefully balance James\u2019 playing time with the demands of their season.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For the Lakers, understanding how to manage LeBron’s foot injury while continuing to put him in a position to perform at a high level is key. The Lakers need his leadership and his play. They will now look to build on the momentum of his return as they try to compete in a crowded Western Conference. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The recent LeBron James absence from the Los Angeles Lakers for \u201cpersonal reasons\u201d caused some fans to be concerned about the aging star. In the Lakers vs Memphis Grizzlies game on Sunday night, James returned and showed why the time off may have been the perfect break. It is unclear whether James was out due […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5284,"featured_media":112519,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26,1608,62],"tags":[240,2279,38,4745],"class_list":["post-112508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lakers","category-basketball","category-nba","tag-anthony-davis","tag-jj-redick","tag-lebron-james","tag-nba-injuries"],"modified_by":"Eamon Cassels, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5284"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112508"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":112520,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112508\/revisions\/112520"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}