LeBron James headed to the locker room with a strained left groin in the Los Angeles Lakers‘ 111-101 loss to the Boston Celtics on Saturday. Now the 40-year-old superstar could be sidelined for “weeks,” according to ESPN.
However, James didn’t sound overly concerned about the injury. He also wasn’t willing to put a timetable on how fast he could be back on the court as the Lakers look to maintain their recent surge in the standings.
“Not much concern,” James said. “Obviously, I’m day-to-day. I’ll look at it each day and see if it gets better, and take the proper measures to see what I need to do moving forward.”
James exited during a timeout with 6:44 to play after contesting a layup by Jaylen Brown. He walked gingerly to the huddle during an ensuing timeout and then barely moved before making his way to the locker room with trainers. He finished with 22 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists as the Lakers had their eight-game win streak snapped.
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This is not the first time James has dealt with a groin injury. Most notably, he missed 17 straight games after suffering a tear in his left groin on Christmas Day in 2018. James said Saturday night that he does not believe his most recent injury is as severe as that one.
“I’ve been there before and I know what type of injury we’re dealing with,” James said.
In his 22nd season, James has shown little signs of slowing down, averaging 25 points, 8.5 assists and 8.2 rebounds per game. Last week, he became the first NBA player to score 50,000 career points, postseason included.
With James in the locker room, the Lakers cut a 20-point, fourth-quarter deficit to single digits. But Jayson Tatum and Brown scored Boston’s final 12 points to preserve the win.
Luka Doncic had 34 points and eight rebounds in his first game in Boston since he and the Dallas Mavericks lost Game 5 of the NBA Finals as Boston clinched its 18th championship.
The Lakers (40-22) fell to third place in the Western Conference standings after Saturday’s loss and face a tough upcoming stretch.
L.A. will play eight games in the next two weeks, with five of those matchups coming against teams that are currently in the playoff picture. That includes a home-and-home against the Denver Nuggets, who lead the Lakers by a half-game in the standings.
“It doesn’t matter who’s in the lineup, we have to play our game,” James said. “We’ve had guys in and out of the lineup the majority of the year. And we’ve had guys in and out of the lineup the last six weeks. … Nothing changes.”
The Lakers will next visit Brooklyn on Monday and will likely be without James that night.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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