LeBron James is expected to miss several weeks with a foot injury

Those why the Los Angeles Lakers traded for Russell Westbrook in 2021 reared its ugly head just two games after the A’sll-Star break. After two LeBron James could be out for several weeks with an injury. The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported that James has survived the foot injury he suffered in the Lakers’ 111-108 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday.

The franchise is concerned that James could miss significant time during the final sprint to the postseason, and now “more reviews” will be needed to determine the severity of the injury. Starting Tuesday night, the new 2023 iteration of the Lakers had better be ready to shoulder a heavy load if they want to be involved in the postseason.

LeBron’s past Lakers injuries

While there are those who believe that James was a flop with the Lakers during the pre- and post-COVID bubble, that simply isn’t true. The Lakers are currently in a similar situation, which has hurt the franchise since the arrival of James – the more than 33-year-old star has been sidelined for several weeks due to injury.

This happened in the first 2018 Lakers season. The Lakers beat the defending champion Golden State Warriors on Christmas Day, but James suffered a groin injury that kept him out for 17 games. The Lakers fell from 4th to 9th in the Western Conference and missed the postseason.

Despite Anthony Davis missing significant time in 2021, the defending champion Lakers continued to hold the No. 3 seed until James suffered a high ankle sprain on March 20. They fell in the play-in tournament and still managed to advance. They lost to the Phoenix Suns 2-1 in the first round of the playoffs. But Davis injured his groin and James’ less than 100 percent performance meant they lost in six games to the eventual Western Conference champions.

Trading Russell Westbrook

After 2020-21, the Lakers felt Alex Caruso, Kentavius ​​Caldwell-Pope, Kyle Kuzma and Montrezl Harrell weren’t enough to serve if James and Davis missed a championship team so deep that Westbrook was gutted for time.

James and Davis missed time again at various points in the season, and the Lakers missed the postseason altogether. At the beginning of this season, they barely showed NBA caliber. Along with James, Davis and Westbrook. Both James and Davis missed significant time, but the Western Conference was so stacked that the Lakers remained viable.

The Lakers traded Westbrook and others at the deadline to rebuild the roster into a unit that can generate enough energy around James and Davis to be a force in the NBA.

And now?

Now James is out for what appears to be an extended period of time, and the Lakers face the problem that has haunted them since his arrival: What to do if this aging NBA legend has to miss more games?

Last season, no games with Davis sans James resulted in a stretch above .500. This season, Davis helped drag out the Lakers’ season in a five-game stretch without James, but then missed 20 games from mid-December to late January. The Lakers went 10-10 during that stretch, 1-2 in games James didn’t play.

When the Lakers play on the road against the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday night, Mo Bamba, Jarred Vanderbilt, Malik Beasley and Davis will be on the court. Westbrook will be in Los Angeles, but the Clippers will play against the Minnesota Timberwolves while James rehabilitates his injury.

So while the Lakers have greatly improved this roster, which went 4-2 since the trade deadline, it’s 2020-21 again. A roster that complements the Lakers’ star players, at least one of whom is not on the roster.

One of them will again miss a longer period at the end of the season, but there is no perch from this time. The Lakers are already at the bottom. Will this season end with an amazing run, or will the Lakers be saying behind closed doors, “If only Russ could have given us what he gave the Washington Wizards in 2021?“