LeBron James upgraded on Lakers injury report for first time since original injury

For the first time since he got hurt, the Lakers are not listing LeBron James as “out” on their injury report.

LeBron James originally suffered a foot tendon injury on Feb. 26, and has missed all 13 games since then, being listed as “out” for all of them outright. But on the Lakers injury report the team submitted ahead of their matchup vs. the Chicago Bulls on Sunday, James has been upgraded for the first time, being listed as “doubtful” with the same “right foot soreness” the organization has been holding him out with.

As beat reporter Kyle Goon of the O.C. Register noted, this has often been the signal that James is getting close to a return during his Lakers tenure:

Still, in most cases this designation means exactly what it sounds like: That it is “doubtful” a player will play, but theoretically possible, so don’t necessarily expect James back in uniform on Sunday. But the team wouldn’t have made this change on their official injury update if he wasn’t at least getting tangibly closer to a return to the floor, so this progress certainly bears monitoring.

Whatever the case may be, earlier this week, James pushed back on reports that he was targeting a return for the final three games of the season after the Lakers themselves said there is no official target date for him to come back. Could that have been because he’s hoping to come back even sooner than those reports indicated? Only time — and the star, who speaks for himself — will tell.

The Lakers will tip off against the Bulls on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. PT, and the matchup will be televised locally on Spectrum SportsNet. We will keep updating this story with the latest news on if James will suit up for that one or not as it continues to trickle out.

You can follow Harrison on Twitter at @hmfaigen.