LeBron James has been excluded from basketball activities for about six weeks now, and as a result, the Lakers have slipped pretty heavily in the Western Conference standings.
When James had first gotten injured, the Lakers were teetering amongst the top 3 teams in the West, but hardly at risk for losing a playoff bid. Shockingly, their playoff hopes are now in question.
James finally returned to the floor late last week in a game against the Sacramento Kings, and Laker fans hoped that he would help them finally get a win on the board. Unfortunately they lost, with James missing a three-pointer with two seconds on the clock that would’ve won the game for them.
When asked about his time away from the floor, James had this to say: “It was horrible, honestly, for me. I was more stressful than I’ve ever been.”
Unfortunately, the Lakers followed up that loss with yet another one on Sunday night against the Toronto Raptors. To make matters worse, James left the game with a sore ankle.
With veteran point guard Dennis Schroder also experiencing his share of injury problems lately, the Lakers are in some serious trouble. They’re neck in neck with both the Dallas Mavericks and the Portland Trailblazers in the playoff race, and if they’re not careful—they might not even get a chance to prove themselves in the postseason.
