The Los Angeles Lakers entered Saturday’s marquee battle with the Boston Celtics riding an eight-game winning streak, but they walked away having lost more than just the game.
With 6:44 remaining in the fourth quarter, LeBron James exited the game while the Lakers made progress on their attempted 22-point comeback, but he did not return. He was ruled out for the game with a left groin strain, and when head coach JJ Redick spoke afterward, he did not have an update. One source told ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, however, that the initial thought is that James will be sidelined for a matter of weeks, not days.
James took a more optimistic tone in his postgame availability, but did not offer a specific timeline when asked how concerned he was about the injury.
“Not much concern,” he said. “Obviously I’m day-to-day. I’ll look at it each day and see if it gets better. We’ll take the proper measures to see what we need to do moving forward.”
The injury came as James drove to the basket against Jaylen Brown. He attempted a spin move and followed that up with two head fakes, eventually converting the layup. James had a slight limp after the score, but attempted to play defense on the next possession.
On the ensuing trip down the floor, Brown drove for a quick layup and James visibly pointed to the bench to ask to be removed from the game.
“The last score I had on Jaylen Brown, probably extended it a little bit too much,” James said after the game. “A couple pivots and then when I landed I felt it.”
Groin strains can be tricky injuries. James, notably, suffered a tear in his left groin on Christmas of 2018 in a game against the Golden State Warriors which wound up derailing his season, but he said that one felt much worse than the one on Saturday night. In November of 2022, he exited a game against the Los Angeles Clippers with another groin injury, and he ultimately missed five games as he recovered. The severity of the strain will go a long way in determining how much time this injury potentially costs James.
The Lakers have thrived lately, and while the Luka Dončić acquisition has been a significant part of that, James has been the team’s catalyst. The Lakers had gone 18-3 in their previous 21 games entering Saturday, and James averaged 27.4 points, 9.4 rebounds and 7.9 assists in that span on very strong efficiency while playing excellent defense. Now the Lakers will have to adjust to life without him for the time being, and James may have to prepare himself for the end of a legendary streak.
James has made an All-NBA team 20 years in a row. However, having only played 58 games so far this season, he is still seven shy of the 65-game awards minimum. If this injury does indeed keep him out for a matter of weeks, we might be looking at our first set of All-NBA teams not to feature James since 2004.
