On January 30, Beijing time, the 2021-22 NBA regular season is in full swing. Earlier today, the Lakers announced that James will continue to be absent due to sore left knee and that he will miss tomorrow's game against the Hawks, which will be his third consecutive absence.
James had a brief warm-up before the Lakers' game against the 76ers began, and then the Lakers announced that James would be sidelined due to injury, and he missed yesterday's game with the Hornets.
According to statistics, yesterday's game against the Hornets was James' 72nd missed game since joining the Lakers, which is more than the first 15 seasons of his career combined (71 games). And as James continues to be absent tomorrow, that number will grow larger and larger.
For James's knee injury, medical expert Evan Jeffries tweeted two times in a row, first writing: "James's absence from three consecutive games is worrying, and the sore knee turns into a swollen knee, which is often not a good sign." He then said the Lakers should get James underwent an MRI, and he was worried about a meniscus injury.
If it is really a meniscus injury, then James's situation will become more serious. It has to be said that since entering the season, James's physical condition has been repeatedly in condition, he missed more than 10 games at the beginning of the season due to a rectus strain, if he suffered a knee injury. This is not a good signal for the Lakers' run-in problems and results.
According to the schedule, after ending tomorrow's game with the Hawks, the Lakers will end six consecutive Eastern Conference road trips, and they will then stay in Los Angeles to play 4 consecutive games (one of which is "away" to play the Clippers), and for James, he will usher in a valuable period of recuperation.
So far this season, James has averaged 29.1 points, 7.7 rebounds, 6.3 assists, 1.6 steals, 1.1 blocks, shooting 52.2 percent from the field and 35.2 percent from three-point range.