LeBron James’ walking boot is OFF following a foot injury he suffered last month as the star man returns to the court to watch the Lakers win over the New York Knicks.
LeBron James appears to be making progress from the foot injury he suffered against the Mavericks on February 26 as he showed up to watch the Lakers take on the Knicks without his walking boot.
James was spotted wearing the boot last week when his team took on the Warriors, and after taking a week off the team, it looks like he’s on track to return to the court later this month.
“Everything is going according to plan,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said, according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.
According to the schedule the Lakers provided earlier this month, James was not expected to return before March 23 with the foot problem.
LA said on March 2 that James would be re-evaluated in three weeks, though a return on exactly that date is probably optimistic.
LeBron James ditched the boot to walk on Sunday, a week after he was seen wearing it.
James hurt his foot against the Mavericks on February 26 and hasn’t played since.
Including the Mavs game where James was injured, the Lakers are 5-3 since the injury after Sunday’s 112-108 home loss to the Knicks.
While James has only played 47 of 68 games this season due to injury, LA is only 24-23 with him in the lineup.
However, they’ve been an improved bunch since the deadline after trading D’Angelo Russell, Jarred Vanderbilt and Malik Beasley, and shipping Russell Westbrook.
Coming off Sunday’s loss, which kept them from reaching a .500 record for the first time in more than a year, the Lakers are tied for 10th place in the West, two games out of the sixth seed.
RJ Barrett scored 13 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter and the Knicks snapped a three-game losing streak by holding on to victory over their hosts on Sunday night.
Julius Randle bounced back after his poor performance on Saturday, leading the team in points
RJ Barrett scored 30 points in the victory for the Knicks, who snapped a three-game losing streak
Julius Randle led the Knicks with 33 points after shooting 5-for-24 in Saturday’s loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, but Barrett played the closer role.
Barrett was 6 of 12 in the fourth quarter and hit the tiebreaking basket when his layup broke a 93-93 tie with 9:26 remaining.
Barrett hit a 3-pointer to extend the lead to 106-96 with 5:01 to play and his basket made it 110-100 with 2:34 to play, but it was New York’s final basket and the Knicks survived a dangerous finish.
A layup by Dennis Schroder made it 110-108 with 19.3 seconds left and Josh Hart hit two free throws with five seconds remaining to make it 112-108. After the Lakers called their final timeout, the game ended when Russell missed a 3-pointer with 1.3 seconds remaining.