Will LeBron James be able to play against the Warriors?
By Scott Rogust
Los Angeles Lakers head coach Frank Vogel provided an update on LeBron James‘ status for their play-in round game against the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday.
The Los Angeles Lakers narrowly missed out on clinching a playoff spot, thanks to a Portland Trail Blazers win over the Denver Nuggets on Sunday. While the Lakers did defeat the New Orleans Pelicans in their regular-season finale, fans received a slight scare when star LeBron James rolled his right ankle. After the game, James was said to be okay, but will he be good to go for Wednesday’s huge play-in round game against the Golden State Warriors?
On Tuesday, head coach Frank Vogel said that while James did deal with some “minor soreness,” the star is good to go for their important game against the Warriors.
Frank Vogel said LeBron James had some minor soreness in his ankle but that he will be “good to go” for tomorrow’s game.
— Christian Rivas (@RadRivas) May 18, 2021
Lakers: LeBron James cleared for play-in round game against Golden State Warriors
Things appeared to be trending this way, but now it is official.
The Lakers have been hit with the injury bug massively this season, starting with Anthony Davis missing around two months due to various right leg injuries. But on March 20, things got even worse once James went down with a high right ankle sprain after a collision with Solomon Hill while retrieving a loose ball against the Atlanta Hawks. Even though James did return, he went back to the sidelines to ensure his ankle was 100-percent.
Then, the scare happened on Sunday night when James rolled his injured right ankle in the fourth quarter against the Pelicans and sat for the remainder of the game. But, Vogel revealed that there were “no issues” with James’ ankle.
Through 45 games this regular season, James is averaging 25.0 points, 7.8 assists, 7.7 rebounds and 1.1 steals while shooting 51.3-percent from the field and 36.5-percent from the 3-point line.
The Lakers’ plan since the start of this season was to run it back and win another NBA title. James is healthy, but he will have to go through NBA MVP candidate Stephen Curry and the Warriors on Wednesday night to clinch the seventh-seed in the Western Conference. If not, they will have to play the winner of the Memphis Grizzlies-San Antonio Spurs matchup for the eighth seed.