Rocio Robles
For the Los Angeles Lakers, who will be without LeBron James for the remainder of the season, there wasn’t much to fight for in the final two games. After he was re-evaluated today by the franchise’s medical staff, it was determined that the best decision to treat his sprained left ankle (which he suffered on March 27 against the New Orleans Pelicans) was to rest the remainder of the season in the NBA.
King James had returned on April 1st to play a rematch against the Pelicans, when they still had a chance to secure a spot in the NBA play-in tournament. In that game he got 38 points, eight rebounds, four assists and one steal in 39 minutes; however, they would lose by a score of 114-111, which represents the fifth consecutive loss for the California organization.
LeBron has not played another game so far due to his injury, and the Lakers were eliminated from a possible playoff berth on Tuesday at the hands of the Phoenix Suns. So far, Frank Vogel’s team has not been able to win a game since March 21 (against the Cleveland Cavaliers) accumulating eight consecutive losses so far, and nine losses in the last 10 games.
Anthony Davis, with a right foot discomfort, and Russell Westbrook, with a right shoulder discomfort, were also ruled out for today’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. It is clear that the Los Angeles team no longer has anything to compete for and are destined to finish the season in eleventh place in the Western Conference with a 31-49 record thus far.
LeBron James’ numbers for the 2021-2022 season
Nevertheless, James’ campaign in his 19th year as a professional in the NBA was an individual success: he has averaged 30.3 points, 8.2 rebounds, 6.2 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.1 blocks through 56 games (he played 37.2 minutes in each of them) which makes him the oldest player to average 30 points or more in league history; proving that, even at 37 years of age, the four-time champion hasn’t lost quality in his way of playing.
Can the Lakers bounce back for next season?
