Well, "much needed" unless you hate the Los Angeles Lakers, that is. The ever-looming specter of the Lakers winning another championship haunts certain people like the Ghost of Christmas Day Games Future.
The Lakers were on a nice 18-3 run since mid-January. That is a good record. Nice job. Then, on March 8, LeBron James left a game against the Boston Celtics with a groin injury. L.A. lost that game and the two following.
Recovery is ongoing, as it often is, but the Lakers are not exactly the deepest team. They were built as a two-star outfit before the Luka Dončić trade, and they were pretty much built to be the same afterward. If you lose half of your stars, you start to lose games.
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I guess that’s it then. LeBron is going to retire, and so will Luka probably. Basketball in L.A. is dead. What other team?
Let’s not be hasty! According to Jovan Buha on Twitter, it may not be so bad:
LeBron James is now day-to-day, baby! That’s my GOAT right there.
Usually injury rehabilitation slows down as you get older, and, for an NBA player, LeBron is super mega-special-old. But he is making his way back to game-ready remarkably quickly. Again. Both relatively and just in a regular normal human sense.
Sometimes I get the impression he could lose an appendage in a tragic asparagus-cutting accident, regrow the missing limb, and be back on the floor in 3-4 weeks. He might have also learned to play Mario Kart 64 with his knees in the meantime. His favorite course would probably be Toad’s Turnpike because he’s a freak.
The Lakers really could use LeBron. I bet most teams could, actually. Two games ago, they lost to the Brooklyn Nets; Gabe Vincent was their leading scorer. All the respect in the world to Gabe Vincent, but if his 24 points are leading your team’s charge then you look closer to a lottery team than an NBA Finals hopeful.
For their remaining 18 games of the season, the Lakers have the fourth-most-difficult schedule by opponent winning percentage, according to tankathon.com. With the Golden State Warriors and Minnesota Timberwolves charging up the Western Conference Standings and the Houston Rockets finding their footing again, the Lakers are at risk of falling from fourth place in the conference to a play-in spot.
LeBron’s return is welcome. At least to people who want to see him back. It’s hard to watch basketball if you don’t want to see LeBron though. I recommend getting over it.