In January and early February, as LeBron James neared Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s all-time NBA career scoring record, there was a sense that he was rushing and pushing to surpass the record and get it out of the way.
The moment came on Feb. 7 versus the Oklahoma City Thunder late in the third quarter — but ever since, James hasn’t looked like himself.
He missed the team’s next three games with a left foot ailment, and in his next three games, he averaged just 20.0 points a game on 38.6 percent shooting.
James injured his right foot in the second half of Sunday’s win over the Dallas Mavericks, and he is expected to miss multiple weeks as a result.
According to Shams Charania, he first injured his right foot in January, but he decided to keep playing (h/t Lakers Daily).
“The interesting part here is I’m told that he initially hurt that right foot in January,” said Charania. “He was faced with a decision at that point to shut it down for an amount of time or keep playing on it. He decided because of where the Lakers were in January…he decided to keep playing on it.”
It is certainly admirable that James was willing to play hurt and injured in order to keep the Lakers afloat in the standings, even though his critics will likely say he kept playing only to surpass Abdul-Jabbar’s record.
James’ heavy minutes have been a problem in the eyes of many. He’s averaging 36.1 minutes a game on the season, and in January he was on the court for 37.8 minutes a contest.
Some around the team were reportedly alarmed at the high mileage and usage the 20-year veteran has been logging over the past two months or so, and perhaps that mileage and usage was a factor in his right foot injury.
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