LeBron James gives worrisome comment after Lakers return

LeBron James returned to the Los Angeles Lakers lineup on Friday night, but LA went on to lose to the Sacramento Kings in a rocky outing.

The Lakers need both James and Anthony Davis at full strength to reach their ultimate goal of back-to-back NBA Titles, but holding onto the Larry O’Brien trophy won’t be as easy as simply reinserting these two into their starting five. On Friday night, James looked a little shaky on that ankle, scoring 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting.

James, Davis and Andre Drummond combined for 55 points, but that wasn’t enough to hold off a Kings team fighting for a spot in the NBA’s play-in tournament.

LeBron James wasn’t satisfied with his re-entry into the Lakers lineup

Lakers coach Frank Vogel tried to put out some of those concerns, stating the team struggled heading into last year’s postseason, and still came away with a championship. The problem with that scenario is that team wasn’t dealing with major injuries to their two biggest stars.

James, Davis and Drummond are trying to mesh on the fly, and it’s bound to be a bumpy road at times. In the meantime, Los Angeles would hope to improve their seeding out West as they now sit in fifth place, meaning they would not receive homecourt advantage in the first round. They’re only a half-game from the sixth spot.

Perhaps the most concerning comment came from James himself, who stated following the game that he doesn’t think he’ll ever reach 100 percent health again during his playing career.

James is 36 years of age, but he was playing at an MVP level before he was injured a few months back. Was that not 100 percent LeBron?

“For my first game in six weeks, I felt OK,” James said. “As far as my wind, I felt pretty good. As far as my ankle, it was a little tight at times, obviously. … But I came out unscathed and pretty good. So it’s a good start…”

So, there’s the good and the bad for Lakers fans. While an encouraging start from LeBron’s perspective, losing to the Kings is not what James and Vogel had in mind.