LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Lakers were dealt a significant setback when LeBron James suffered a right foot injury Sunday that is expected to sideline him for multiple weeks, a person with knowledge of the situation said, spoiling what had been a rare stretch of optimism during a turbulent season.
James, 38, had been listed as out with right foot soreness for the Lakers’ next game, a visit to the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday, after falling to the floor and clutching his foot late in the third quarter of a 111-108 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday.
The all-star forward cut to the basket, received a pass and made a move to dribble past Dwight Powell as he attempted a right-handed layup in traffic, only to fall to the court while drawing a foul. James immediately reacted, holding the middle of his right foot and saying he “heard it pop.”
Despite the setback, James continued playing, posting 26 points, eight rebounds and three assists in 37 minutes. The four-time MVP walked with a noticeable limp following the game.
“It’s been better, that’s for sure,” James said after Sunday’s win. “I definitely wasn’t going to go to the locker room. I finished the game out tonight.”
On Monday, James posted an Instagram photo of his foot in a protective sock alongside the caption, “[Expletive] sucks!!!!”
James missed three games before the all-star break with left foot soreness, and he was sidelined for two weeks in November with a groin injury. The Athletic first reported Monday that James would be sidelined for an extended period of time.
The new-look Lakers, who added D’Angelo Russell, Jarred Vanderbilt, Malik Beasley and Rui Hachimura in deals before the trade deadline, now must mount a push to the playoffs without their leading scorer. Los Angeles is 5-9 this season without James, who is averaging 29.5 points, 8.4 rebounds and 6.9 assists.
This has been a historic and frustrating campaign for James, who this month became the NBA’s all-time leading scorer and set a league record by appearing in his 19th All-Star Game. But injuries to James and Anthony Davis have contributed to another losing season for the Lakers, who entered Monday’s action as the Western Conference’s No. 12 seed at 29-32.
After expressing impatience with the state of the Lakers in December, James pledged at All-Star Weekend that the balance of the season represented some of the “most important games” of his career as he sought to avoid missing the playoffs for a second straight season. With roughly six weeks remaining in the regular season, Los Angeles is one game out of the West’s play-in mix and 2½ games out of securing a guaranteed playoff spot by finishing with a top-six record in the conference.
Though the Lakers didn’t land Kyrie Irving despite James’s public campaigning for a reunion with his former Cleveland Cavaliers teammate, they did trade Russell Westbrook to the Utah Jazz for a package of players that rebalanced their roster. Los Angeles is 4-1 since parting with Westbrook, including convincing wins over the New Orleans Pelicans and Golden State Warriors, two teams in the West’s play-in mix.
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