Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James fell to the floor after colliding with Solomon Hill on Saturday and after writhing on the floor, he checked out of the game.
James suffered a right ankle injury and would not return to the match against the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday afternoon, per Shams Charania. Injuries are always terrible, but this one was particularly surprising because James almost never leaves the game when he gets hurt.
As our USA TODAY Sports colleague Jeff Zillgitt wrote about back in 2018, one of James’ best abilities is availability. He has displayed that time and time again during the extent of his remarkable professional career thus far.
If and when he does get hurt, the perennial MVP candidate is known for playing through the pain. In fact, based on our research, we have learned that James has not exited a game since Christmas 2018.
James also left a match against the San Antonio Spurs in March 2017 after he took an elbow to his neck.
Otherwise, however, it has been an incredibly rare occurrence for the four-time NBA champion to head to the locker room without eventually returning to the floor.
Of course, is far too early to make any assumptions about the severity of this health issue. But the fact that this simply does not happen to James, as well as the brutal reaction he was dealing with in the aftermath of the injury, may indicate this could sideline James for an extended period.
For now, we are hoping for the best-case scenario with the reigning champ and that he can return to the Lakers sooner rather than later.
