LeBron James will return to the Los Angeles Lakers lineup to face the Houston Rockets at the Toyota Center on Wednesday.
Yahoo's Chris Haynes first reported the update. Frank Vogel confirmed LeBron's status at his pregame press conference.
LeBron missed the Lakers' previous game — a 117-110 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Monday — due to a flare-up of the left knee soreness and swelling that has bothered him since late January. He initially missed five games due to the ailment.
James has been listed as questionable in every game since he returned from the injury on Feb. 5 — including vs. San Antonio and Houston — but Monday's contest was the first game he's missed during that span (including the All-Star Game). In his pregame remarks before the Spurs clash, Vogel concerningly said LeBron had developed “significant” soreness in his knee, though expressed hope that it would only be a one or two-day ordeal.
Vogel acknowledged that the heavy workload LeBron has been carrying contributed to the latest issue. James has averaged 37.9 minutes over his past three games, including a 56-point outburst on Saturday at Crypto.com Arena. The fact that the Lakers were forced to sit on the runway for an extra two hours on Sunday could not have helped his recovery.
The 37-year old — who is gunning for his second scoring title (29.4 PPG) in his 19th season while chasing Karl Malone and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the all-time scoring list — has admitted that his knee was a “total wreck” when he woke up on Jan. 27. He has indicated that he is playing through pain and his knee would require extended rest in the offseason to fully heal.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7EgzP7taFiZULFQXPKD78T?si=fdf080df30b44fbe
LeBron has refuted any notion that he might shut it down, though he can certainly change his tune should Los Angeles continue sliding down the standings. The Lakers (28-36) have lost eight of their last 10 games.
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