LeBron James is projected to miss several weeks due to a right foot injury, shocking the Los Angeles Lakers, their supporters, and the NBA as a whole.

The diagnosis couldn’t come at a worse time. The Lakers have rattled off three straight encouraging wins that have the team rapidly ascending in the Western Conference playoff picture. The vibes in the locker room have been as energized and optimistic as they’ve been all season. At 29-32, the Lakers sit 12th in the West — one game out of the final Play-In spot and 2.5 games behind the No. 6 seed with 21 games to go.

The Lakers’ remaining schedule is home-heavy, largely favorable, and features a slew of matchups against teams they’re battling with for playoff positioning. The fact that the bulk of their March games will be played in Los Angeles should be helpful to LeBron’s recovery, as he can do so at home without dealing with travel.

The Lakers are 5-9 without LeBron this season and 1-1 without him since their trade deadline acquisitions joined the mix. Certainly, the additions of D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley, and Jarred Vanderbilt (among others) have allowed the Lakers to remain functional while LeBron carried a lighter load, but the Lakers targeted those pieces because of how they fit around LeBron and Anthony Davis.

Los Angeles is 36-62 without James in regular-season games since he joined the franchise. This season, the Lakers are an absurd +12.6 points per 100 possessions better with LeBron on the floor, though, the aforementioned deadline caveat applies.

Perhaps Anthony Davis can play MVP-caliber ball the rest of the way and D’Angelo Russell can perform at an All-Star level in a contract year. Troy Brown Jr., Austin Reaves, and Rui Hachimura are nice pieces who can soak up LeBron’s minutes.

Still: No amount of newfound depth can compensate for the absence of LeBron — the team’s leading scorer and orchestrator. In 47 appearances in his 20th season, the 38-year-old is averaging 29.5 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 6.9 assists on 50.1% shooting in 36.1 minutes per game.

LeBron had been nursing ankle/foot soreness on his other leg for the past several weeks — an ailment that was a result of wear and tear (an MRI revealed no structural damage) and is expected to linger into the offseason. It’s caused him to miss seven games, including three right before the All-Star break. Back in January, Darvin Ham acknowledged that he was worried about overworking the veteran.

“I feel bad about that,” Ham said regarding LeBron’s load. “He’s playing at an amazing level, but we can’t run him into the ground. That was one of my main goals coming into the season.”

Now, LeBron has to deal with an entirely new issue on the right side. Whether it’s a result of age, wear and tear, or simply one fluky, unlucky moment is unknown. Here’s what we do know about the right foot injury.

Everything we know about LeBron’s injury

Towards the end of the third quarter of the Lakers’ miraculous comeback win over the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday, LeBron hit the deck after landing awkwardly on a layup attempt. Microphones easily picked up LeBron declaring that he “heard a pop” — just about the worst three scariest in sports.

(During his walk-off interview in Dallas, LeBron said he believed he stepped on Dwight Powell’s foot, but the footage indicates it was a non-contact landing.)

“I heard it pop, yeah, it popped too.”

Nooooooooo!!!!

LeBron fearing he may have popped his left ankle! pic.twitter.com/1FbBn7sjwK

— Andrew Jerell Jones, Luke 1:37 (IG:twdbk3) (@sluggahjells) February 26, 2023

LeBron managed to temporarily brush off the pain and score five points to begin the fourth period. After getting treatment on the bench, LeBron powered his way to three post-layups in crunch-time to help the Lakers seal the deal. He finished with 26 points (10-of-23 FG), 8 rebounds, and 3 assists in 37 minutes.

Postgame, Ham struck a positive tone.

“He’s good. Our medical people are looking at him right now. He’ll get reevaluated again in the morning. And so once we get some type of official word tomorrow, we’ll go from there. But, as of right now, he’s good.”

LeBron was a bit more measured.

“It’s been better. That’s for sure. But I definitely wasn’t going to go to the locker room and not finish the game out tonight. Just understood the importance of the game and then with the momentum that we had, I felt like we could still win after being down.”

His gimpy walk out of the American Airlines Center was not reassuring.

LeBron walking gingerly after the game

(Via @townbrad) pic.twitter.com/LRq4np1DOe

— NBACentral (@TheNBACentral) February 27, 2023

On Monday, LeBron was ruled out of the Lakers’ matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies — not surprising, considering the Lakers have a critical game vs. the Oklahoma City Thunder the next night.

Not long after the injury report, however, came a more detailed — and distressing — update on the 19-time All-Star’s condition, via The Athletic’s Shams Charania.

“Sources: There’s fear Lakers star LeBron James is likely to miss an extended period of time with his right foot injury. James suffered the injury in Sunday’s win over Dallas, played through it, and belief is he will be sidelined an indefinite amount.

James miraculously played through the injury that is now expected to require multiple opinions, sources said, and the Lakers are bracing for his absence to be multiple weeks.”

LeBron — who called the 2022-23 homestretch the most “important games” of his career —vented his frustration on Instagram:

“Fkn sucks!!! 🗣😤🥺😢”

LeBron James on IG after being ruled OUT for tomorrow’s Lakers-Grizzlies game with a right foot injury. pic.twitter.com/NSvSNHAEPo

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) February 27, 2023

LeBron and the Lakers will undergo more testing and seek advice from medical personnel to glean the precise nature of the injury, per ESPN.

The Lakers’ regular-season finale is April 9. That’s about six weeks away.

Source: https://clutchpoints.com