Lately, LeBron James has been starting to look like the same superstar-level player he has been for the past two decades. He missed the first 14 games of this season due to sciatica, and once he returned, he looked sluggish. But over the last few years, he has looked largely like his old self.
In the Los Angeles Lakers’ 143-135 victory over the Utah Jazz on Thursday, he had 28 points on 8-of-17 field-goal shooting, 10 assists and seven rebounds, and he looked fairly frisky, especially in the open court. But he took a beating. In the second quarter, a Jazz player collided with his left knee — the same knee he suffered a sprained MCL in during the Lakers’ final playoff game last season — and he remained on the ground for a while. Later, he got hit in his jaw.
But James seemed OK through it all. After the game, he said he told his trainer that he “dodged a bullet” as far as avoiding a knee injury.
“Just a little bolt to the knee — sharp pain to the knee. I got kneed on the inside, like the medial side of the knee, and just wanted to take my time a little bit as it calmed down or whatever the case may be.
“… I told Mike [Mancias], my trainer, I said, ‘We dodged a bullet there.’”
James will turn 41 years of age on Tuesday, Dec. 30, and of course, there has been endless speculation about whether this will be his final season in the NBA or at least his last one with the Lakers. But he continues to seem ageless, and as long as he continues to play at this type of level, he will continue to give L.A. a puncher’s chance of competing with the elite teams in the league.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: LeBron James on the collision he suffered Thursday versus the Jazz
Reporting by Robert Marvi, LeBron Wire / LeBron Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
