LeBron James was a superhuman against the Los Angeles Clippers Wednesday and played the following night against wizardshelping the Lakers win the two consecutive matches.
LeBron playing in both games was far from a foregone conclusion. The 21-year-old veteran struggled with an ankle injury for most of the season and missed the game against Phoenix Suns last week because of this.
So it’s no surprise that James is back on the injury report listed as questionable for the Lakers’ upcoming game against the Denver Nuggets.
With the The Western Conference standings still tight, the Lakers desperately need LeBron to play if he’s healthy. LA doesn’t know how to beat the defending champions with the King, as they have lost seven straight times to the Nuggets, including last season’s Conference Finals sweep. If he is out, it will only make a match even more difficult.
LeBron being listed as questionable is commonplace and what his status has been for most of the season. Even so, this is a downgrade from his availability and if he misses the game against Denver, it will raise concerns among fans about the severity of this ankle injury.
The injury bug has never completely left this Lakers team.
Jarred Vanderbilt and Gabe Vincent are out for weeks, Christian Wood has been suffering from a left knee effusion and Colin Castleton is also out with a broken wrist; the Lakers reacted by would have signed a two-way contract with Harry Giles. To make room for Giles, the Lakers would waive Dylan Windler.
A win against Denver would not only be impressive, but it would rid Los Angeles of this demon and prove that they can, in fact, beat Nikola Jokić and the Nuggets.
Hopefully the Lakers get the result regardless of who is fit to play, but James’ availability is undoubtedly the best-case scenario. Otherwise, the Lakers will need to adopt a “next man up” mentality and hopefully Darvin Ham can inspire the team with an Any Given Sunday-style pregame speech.
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88.
