On March 20, Lebron James suffered the most publicized ankle injury (which was not a dirty play) this side of Dak Prescott, causing him to miss the twenty games, the most time the typically durable James has ever lost to injury.
Lebron made his long-awaited to the Laker lineup on April 30 against the Sacramento Kings. In his 32 minutes of work, he scored 16 points on 6/12 from the floor to go along with 8 rebounds, 7 assists, and 2 steals. It was not enough as the Lakers fell to the Kings 110-106. In their next game, the lakers would also suffer another defeat, 121-114, at the hands of the Toronto Raptors. It seems the returns of both Lebron and Anthony Davis (who himself had been out since February 14 with a calf strain and Achilles tendinosis) has not been enough to completely make all right in Lakerland, though they did get a much-needed win over the Denver Nuggets 93-89 Monday night.
While it stands to reason that with two players the caliber of Lebron and AD, the Lakers will right the ship, the issue of this article is comments made by Mr. James after his first game back. In a post-game interview Lebron, when discussing his ankle made the statement that “I don’t think I’ll ever get back to 100 percent in my career.”
This was a calculated statement made by someone in Lebron James who has shown a thorough understanding of using the narratives to his advantage. Lebron understands that he has set the foundation for giving himself a built-in out should the Lakers season end in less than anything other than the team hoisting another Larry O’Brien trophy. He also understands that this narrative will be pushed by his sycophants in the sports media ( see Sharpe, Shannon and Wright, Nick), disseminated to the masses, and subsequently accepted as fact by his fan(boys).
