Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James has been out of action for about two and a half weeks due to a right foot tendon injury he suffered on Feb. 26 against the Dallas Mavericks.
In recent days, he has shed the walking boot he had been using, and he has even begun light basketball activities, which has led to speculation he could be nearing a return and renewed questions about why he is still out in the first place.
According to Jovan Buha of The Athletic, James is still on track with his recovery, and although he is scheduled to be re-evaluated next week, a return would likely be in early April.
Via HoopsHype:
“It’s sounding like if he does, it’s probably going to be the last week or so of the regular season,” Buha said about James’ potential return to Michael Scotto. “You hear conflicting things. This has been one of the tougher things to dig on. The Lakers have played this very close to the vest. There hasn’t been much out there on it. A couple of notable developments this week were he returned to the team without the walking boot over the weekend. In between quarters, he was dribbling the ball and shooting layups. It was stationary but didn’t look like a guy who was in a walking boot, limping, and arrived in one of those scooters. He’s already ahead of schedule from that perspective. At shootaround in New Orleans, he was shooting free throws and moving around. The plan is to re-evaluate him next week, which will be about 3.5 weeks since the injury.”
Without James, the Lakers have gone 5-4 and are in 10th place in the Western Conference. Even after a couple of disappointing losses, such as Wednesday’s setback at the hands of the Houston Rockets, they’re within striking distance of accomplishing their goal of finishing sixth and bypassing the play-in tournament.
But to accomplish that goal, they will need James back in action for at least a few games.
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