ESPN reporter Brian Windhorst is confused as to how the Los Angeles Lakers have handled superstar small forward LeBron James' groin injury.

The Lakers announced this week that LeBron James has been cleared to practice next week, and that press release made Windhorst's eyes open.

According to Windhorst, the Lakers' statement isn't normal, as it seems they are hiding something. The ESPN reporter even speculated that the injury may be worse than what the Purple and Gold expected, which could be the reason why they are not being truthful about LeBron's injury.

“Even the Lakers’ latest statement on this – they made a statement that he is going to practice in a week,” Windhorst said on ESPN The Jump. “I’ve never even heard of a press release where they say a guy is going to practice in a week. Even that is odd.

“This whole thing has been handled oddly and I don’t know why but it’s not quite what we normally see. It’s either that they were not truthful or that this injury is worse than they thought it was. Which is fine. He’s 34 years old. He’s never had an injury like this before.

“If it’s just taken longer to get back then it’s just taken longer to get back. But when you have the team saying one thing and you have his agent, Rich Paul, on the record saying this is a three-to-six week injury from day one, especially in the era right now where there is more of a demand for transparency because of the betting on these games, this is a worrisome thing.”

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James suffered the injury on Christmas against the Warriors. The Lakers said it was going to be a day-to-day thing, but James' agent, Rich Paul, recently said it could be a three-to-six week recovery process.

We'll see what happens next when James supposedly returns to practice next week.