Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James rolled his ankle in the final game of the NBA regular season, and it might be an issue in the playoffs.
Sports injury expert Dr. Brian Sutterer told Ethan Strauss of The Athletic he is concerned about the durability of James' ankle because of how he rolled it against the New Orleans Pelicans this weekend:
“The reason I was concerned that he had tweaked the original injury was that it was the same mechanism as his original high-ankle sprain,” Sutterer said, via Strauss. “I think if this would have been the more classic low-ankle sprain, I probably wouldn’t have been that concerned because he’s shown us he can brush those off. But because it was the same mechanism as his original injury, that’s where I think there’s concern of how healthy that ligament is going to be going into Wednesday.”
As Sutterer noted, the Lakers and head coach Frank Vogel are not going to say James is hurting ahead of Wednesday's play-in game against the Golden State Warriors. However, Sutterer believes the “mechanism” of the injury calls into question the health of the ligament.
James previously said he understood the first ankle sprain he suffered would have an impact on his physical wellbeing going forward. The Lakers expect him to play through some pain. Of course, playing through pain and risking re-injury are two different things.
What does all this mean? Maybe nothing. But the Lakers could be at a deficit against the Dubs should James' ankle take a toll as the game rolls along.
Even if Los Angeles gets through Golden State, the Lakers might be hard-pressed to make a deep playoff run if James is more susceptible to re-injury.
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