After the Los Angeles Lakers’ 111-101 loss to the Boston Celtics on Saturday, LeBron James went to the locker room with a strained left groin. These days, the 40-year-old superstar might be out for “weeks,” ESPN reports.
The Lakers’ eight-game winning streak was ended when James left the game halfway through the fourth quarter, having finished with 22 points, 14 rebounds, and nine assists. James has previously struggled with a groin problem. Most famously, on Christmas Day in 2018, he tore his left groin, missing 17 consecutive games. On Saturday night, James stated that he doesn’t think his most recent injury is as severe as that one.
With an average of 25 points, 8.5 assists, and 8.2 rebounds per game in his 22nd season, James hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down. He became the first NBA player to reach 50,000 career points, including postseason points, last week. The Lakers reduced a 20-point deficit in the fourth quarter to single digits with James in the locker room. However, Boston’s final 12 points were scored by Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown to seal the victory.
Boston won its 18th NBA Finals, and Luka Doncic scored 34 points and pulled down eight rebounds in his first game back in Boston since he and the Dallas Mavericks lost Game 5 of the series.
Right now, the Lakers (40-22) hold the third seed in the Western Conference. They will probably be without James on Monday when they go to Brooklyn, as well as for the foreseeable future.
Over the next two weeks, Los Angeles will play eight games, five of which will be against teams that are in the running for the playoffs. Among them is a home-and-home matchup with the Denver Nuggets, who are one half-game ahead of the Lakers in the standings.
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