It's no secret that LeBron James isn't a hundred percent right now. The Los Angeles Lakers star is still dealing with a lingering ankle injury that cost him several weeks of the regular season. Following LA's impressive Game 3 victory over the Phoenix Suns, LeBron opened up about the status of his ankle and how this might affect his level of play the rest of the way.

James acknowledged that the injury is still an issue, but that he continues to make strides in terms of making a full recovery:

“Obviously it’s been a rough year on me as far as physically with my ankle and dealing with that trying to get it back to where it was before the injury,” LeBron said, via Ron Gutterman of Lakers Nation. “But every day is a step forward and we’ll continue to put the work into it with my treatment around the clock, getting it to, like I said, where it was before the injury and until then my teammates will continue to hold me down while I try to make plays for them.”

LeBron was considerably more aggressive during Thursday's win over the Suns. The ankle injury that put him on the shelf for the latter part of the Lakers' regular season did not seem to bother him too much as he took it upon himself to lead his team to a key victory against a relentless Phoenix side.

After the win, James expressed his delight in being able to step up for his team when they needed it most:

“Well I mean it feels good for me personally to be able to make plays for our team, for my teammates,” James said. “That’s all I care about, I don’t care about what anyone else thinks outside of our locker room, outside of our support system, outside of our group. I’ve always been that way.”

While we don't expect LeBron to be fully healthy the rest of the way, it looks like he's currently at, or at least nearing a level wherein he's gotten comfortable with playing through the injury. This does not bode well for the rest of the NBA.