Lakers star out for weeks with groin strain
LeBron James left Saturday’s loss to the Boston Celtics in the 4th quarter, though the 40-year-old claims there’s ‘not much concern’ with his injury
The Los Angeles Lakers lost more than just their eight-game winning streak Saturday night in Boston. They also lost LeBron James for an indefinite amount of time.
Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James is expected to miss at least 1-to-2 weeks with a groin strain, sources tell ESPN. James will wait for the groin injury to calm down over the next 24 hours and receive another evaluation. pic.twitter.com/17mWxsaXN3
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 9, 2025
If anyone thinks this will doom the Lakers’ season, they need to make like James’ groin injury and calm down. But it does perhaps end their quest for the two seed in the Western Conference, a position that they hold as of Sunday evening. They’d really be in trouble if an unspecified wide-ranging NBA conspiracy the Dallas Mavericks hadn’t sent them Luka Doncic for a unibrowed big man who got hurt three quarters into his first game with his new team.
James has been on fire recently, winning his 41st Player of the Month award for February. He’s averaged 28.4 points in his last 15 games, along with 10.3 rebounds and 7.2 assists. James shot 53.2% from the floor and made almost 40% of his three-pointers. The Lakers have won 18 of their last 22 games, a rate of winning that most teams can only achieve by trading for Jimmy Butler.
He’s officially out for 1-2 weeks, but James doesn’t think the injury is much to worry about. Or at least it’s not as bad as the groin strain he suffered on Christmas Day 2018 against the Golden State Warriors, an injury that kept him out for five weeks.
LeBron James said his mind immediately went to his groin injury Christmas Day 2018 when he felt a pop in his groin and missed significant time. James said he does not believe this injury is as bad as that one, and then knocked on the wooden locker behind him to not jinx it.
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) March 9, 2025
On the plus side for James and the Lakers, he didn’t hear a “pop” this time when he got hurt. On the minus side, he’s six years older, He’s still LeBron James, a man who defies age more than Venmo founder Bryan Johnson. He’s only missed four games all season. He just scored his 50,000th career point. But time and the fragility of the human groin wait for no man.
Assuming James misses two weeks, that’s eight games. If the injury is more serious, or the Lakers decide to be more cautious, he could be out for the Lakers’ game against the Warriors April 3. He does need to play seven more games to qualify for awards consideration and All-NBA teams, but the Lakers are 5.5 games clear of 7th place and the play-in tournament with 20 games to play. They can afford to be cautious with James’ recovery.
But what does this mean for the Warriors specifically? It puts the Western Conference standings in flux behind the Oklahoma City Thunder, but the Warriors are still three games behind the 5th-place Houston Rockets, and five behind the Lakers. It does create the possibility of a first-round Lakers-Warriors series, whether that a 3-6 or a 4-5 battle.
It’s also possible that a groin injury to a 40-year-old James could be more damaging than he believes, even if he’s proved to be virtually indestructible. In the 2022-23 season, James had a serious foot injury, but recovered thanks to treatment from an unnamed doctor known only as “The LeBron James of feet.” If there’s a LeBron James of groins, let’s hope his technique involves throwing a lot of powder into the air.
Until then, expect Doncic to work on his two-man game with Austin Reaves and practice tossing lobs to Alex Len and Trey Jemison III. Let’s hope James’ rehab doesn’t interfere with Taco Tuesday.