The Los Angeles Lakers have been without LeBron James since March 20 when he suffered a high ankle sprain in a loss against the Atlanta Hawks. This left the Lakers without both of their star players as Anthony Davis was out since Valentine’s Day.
Anthony Davis has since returned and at the time of writing this, has played three games since returning. The Lakers are still far from full strength and won’t be until LeBron James is suiting up for the team once more.
Luckily, LeBron shared an extremely positive update message and video to Laker fans to his Instagram on Monday. Just like ‘Space Jam: A New Legacy’, LeBron is coming to a city near you… soon.
As small as a video like this may seem, this is a fantastic update of LeBron’s recovery. Let’s not forget that LeBron had to wear a walking boot for weeks after his injury, so the fact that he is able to run up and down the court like this is massive.
No limping, no wincing, no negative signs. High ankle sprains are a serious injury and it appears as if LeBron James has gotten over the hump in his return. As LeBron alluded to, we might be seeing him in action sooner rather than later.
LeBron James returning will remind the NBA that the Los Angeles Lakers are the team to beat.
The Los Angeles Lakers have not been as bad as they could have been with both LeBron and AD out but the team certainly was far from full strength. Despite that, it appears as many in the NBA landscape have forgotten who the true team to beat in the league is.
Sure, Phoenix vying for the one seed is a good story, the Clippers are red-hot, the Nets have three superstars and the 76ers are a threat as well, but the team to beat is the Lakers. Heck, the biggest threat is the Nets and we have every reason to believe that the Lakers would handle the Nets in an NBA Finals series.
It was initially expected that LeBron would return sometime in early May. The Lakers, nor LeBron, have provided an exact timetable for his return, but we might only have two more games without LeBron.
The Lakers play the Wizards on April 28, the Kings on April 30, the Raptors on May 2, and the Nuggets on May 3.
Perhaps we will see LeBron return in one of the back-to-back games. If the Lakers are extremely cautious they could wait until the back-to-back passes and LeBron could return on April 6 against the Los Angeles Clippers.