LeBron James suffered an ankle injury during the Los Angeles Lakers' 99-94 loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday which forced the four-time MVP to exit the game prematurely. The injury happened during a loose ball play, and for his part, Lakers big man Montrezl Harrell has called out Solomon Hill of the Hawks for the role he played in the incident.
Harrell seemed to imply that it was a dirty play from Hill (h/t Michael Corvo of ClutchPoints):
Montrezl Harrell said he didn't feel like Solomon Hill's dive at LeBron "was a basketball-type play. I really don’t feel like it was a loose ball…He had to go thru his legs to get the ball…I don’t feel like he tried to do it, but those are the things that you should look at."
— Michael Corvo (@michaelcorvoNBA) March 20, 2021
Montrezl Harrell said that Solomon Hill did not make a basketball play when diving on the floor and going through LeBron James’ legs to try to get the steal. He thought it should have been reviewed by the referees and Hill should received more of punishment than a common foul.
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) March 20, 2021
Here is the play in question. You be the judge.
Hope lebron is okay. Also hope the chair is okay. 🙏 pic.twitter.com/e2A2vWZQdS
— Louise (@LouiseNBA) March 20, 2021
As he attempted to make a play on the loose ball, Hill fell on LeBron's right ankle, which based on the clip alone, could have resulted in a sprain. Some might agree with Harrell's assessment of the play and some might not, but at this point, only Hill will be able to say what was running through his mind during this particular play.
James was clearly in pain right after the play and while he was able to play through the injury for a little bit, he eventually had to exit the game and was unable to return. This is a developing story and the extent of the injury has yet to be determined, but for the sake of the Lakers and their current injury crisis, we're hoping that this is nothing more than a minor issue.
To make matters worse, the Lakers were unable to come away with a victory against a red-hot Hawks side. Atlanta logged their eighth straight victory at the expense of the defending champs, as Trae Young and Co. continue to establish themselves as a real threat out East.
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