LeBron James set the alarms for the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday afternoon. After a hard and tumultuous play with Solomon Hill, the King suffered a high right ankle injury that worried everybody within the organization. The Lakers already were without Anthony Davis and now their biggest figure is out due to injury.
The Lakers started the second half of the season a great way, winning four of their first five games, losing a 4-game winning streak with the defeat against the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday. However, that wasn’t the most painful event of the day for the purple and gold; losing LeBron James is a pretty big deal for them and if the King doesn’t return in time, the season could be over for his team.
LeBron has been ruled out for the rest of today’s game with an ankle injury. pic.twitter.com/4bO3kSbUR5
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) March 20, 2021
That said, it’s time to try to figure out when we could have LeBron back with the Lakers. According to the NBA, Bron could need from six weeks to three months to fully heal his injury and that is not a good scenario for his team.
Recovery rates vary, but high ankle sprains typically take anywhere from six weeks to three months to mend. The Lakers’ final regular-season game is in roughly two months, on May 16.James lands on the injured list with fellow star Anthony Davis, who is out at least several more weeks with the Achilles strain that has sidelined him since Feb. 16.James, 36, had missed just one game this season, when a left ankle sprain kept him out against the Kings in the final game before the All-Star break. He hasn’t missed significant time since a hamstring injury cost him 17 straight games midway through the 2018-19 season.Per ESPN Stats & Info, it will mark only the fifth time in James’ 18-year career that he’s missed at least five consecutive games.
Everybody is trying to shed light on this situation and see how much the 4x NBA player will miss with this injury. In a season where he was trying his best to lead his team to the promised land again, Bron now has to deal with this.
Via Jeff Stotts from In Street Clothes:
The timeline of recovery for ankle sprains widely varies based on a number of factors including the severity of damage, the involved joint, and any other accompanying injury. Treatment for a high ankle sprain is the same as a normal medial or lateral ankle sprains but generally takes longer to heal. A big reason for this extended recovery time is linked to the disruption of overall stability and potential widening of the ankle mortise.Over the last six seasons, the average missed time for an isolated high ankle sprain is roughly 10 games. However the variability is high and a quicker return is possible. For example, earlier this season Indiana’s Myles Turner was able to return to action from a high ankle sprain after just three days and one game lost.
Even NBA fans did their research on this matter and one agreed with the first two reports. LeBron will probably miss six weeks of action, if fans want to be optimistic, it could be even less, like two, but that’s not the general rule. In the worst possible case, he will need three months to be healthy again.
“High ankle sprains can take anywhere from 6 weeks to 3 months to fully heal, according to HealthLine. The Lakers are in trouble. Seeding shouldn’t matter, but you don’t want ur best players returning just before the playoffs against a strong 1st Round opponent.” Andre Daniels wrote on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/MoneyDre123/status/1373417094977490948
The picture does not look good for the Lakers but this is LeBron James we’re talking about. If there’s somebody who has taken care of his body, that’s him. It remains to be seen if he will see all that hard work paying off with this injury. James has the best specialists at his disposition and they’ll try to help him to return to the court and help his team advance to the playoffs to defend the 2020 NBA title.
