Lakers’ LeBron James Announces Injury News Before Game vs Rockets

LeBron James made highlights for the Los Angeles Lakers after diving for a loose ball in the team’s recent win over the Denver Nuggets.

Now, before the Lakers’ game against the Houston Rockets, James took to social media to share the full extent of his highlight play, in what ended up being a slight knee injury for the star.

While it did appear James heavily scraped his knee, the update didn’t land him on the injury report, and he remained in for the rest of the game, as well as healthy for the contest against the Rockets.

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LeBron James Knee Injury After Diving Play

The highlight play for James came late in the game as the Lakers were down by one point against the Nuggets. Though he’s been known for his physicality his entire career, at this stage of his NBA life, the hustle play came as somewhat of a shock to basketball fans.

Even Los Angeles head coach JJ Redick said he was surprised at the play.

“I told him after the game, in 23 years of watching you play in the NBA, and the three years I watched you play in high school, I never saw you make a full-out extension dive like that,” he said postgame.

Still, while the diving play made headlines, it resulted in a slight injury for James. In his post showing the knee scrape he suffered, the four-time Finals MVP hinted that he likely won’t make that move again.

“Might be it for diving for the year,” he wrote.

In that overtime win against the Nuggets, he ended with 17 points, six rebounds, five assists, and two steals. 

On the season, James is averaging 21.3 points, 5.7 rebounds, and seven assists on 50.5% shooting.

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LeBron James Lakers Future

Despite being the oldest player in the NBA, James still offers a lot on the basketball court and would be a strong addition for any team, given that he doesn’t sign a max contract extension.

However, while James’ Lakers future is still very much up in the air, as the 41-year-old himself has yet to comment about what his next plans are, an insider recently revealed a telling update about his next plans.

According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, the way the Lakers finish the season will play a major part in how James decides what’s next in his legendary career.

“LeBron hasn’t made a decision on whether he’s going to continue to play. I think the feeling around LeBron James around the league is he’s going to go at least one more season,” Charania said. “

“And a lot of how the Lakers’ season finishes will play a big factor in LeBron James’ future. How does their season end? How does his season end? How’s his health? How is he feeling, mentally, emotionally, and all that?”

While Rob Pelinka did say the Lakers would be open to having the star return and retire in Los Angeles, that is not the prevailing thought. James has been recently linked to a return to the Cleveland Cavaliers, either playing one or two more seasons with his former team before announcing his retirement.

 

Eli Gregorski is a sports journalist covering the NBA for Heavy Sports. He has years of sports writing experience covering the NBA, NFL, college football and basketball, international soccer, and Formula One. He graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder, where he was the assistant sports editor for the award-winning CU Independent student publication. More about Eli Gregorski