LA Laker’s front office is miffed with Darvin Ham for his tactics that worsened LeBron James’ injury.
LeBron James, the leading point scorer in NBA, has carried the weight of the Los Angeles Lakers for four years now. The 38-year-old is the leading point scorer of the franchise for this season. However, the team as a whole is letting LeBron James and the fans down with consecutive poor performances. As of this writing, the Lakers rank 13th on the Western Conference points table with 26-32.
After an awful start of the season, the Lakers camp was crippled under injury concerns. First, of firsts, Anthony Davis went down for five weeks due to a stress foot fracture. Furthermore, Austin Reaves and Lonnie Walker IV sat out for a few weeks due to respective injuries. The injuries derailed the Lakers’ growth as they struggled to close games. Now, the purple and gold find themselves in deep waters as their star attacker is down with an injury.
Is Darvin Ham The Reason For LeBron James’ Aggravated Injury?
LeBron James has been struggling with a nagging ankle injury for much of the current season. Despite this, he has continued to play for the Los Angeles Lakers and lead the team to crucial victories. However, as per the latest injury status, James’ ankle is sore. And as a result, the veteran missed three consecutive games. Moreover, the Lakers’ front office has apparently shifted the blame to head coach Darvin Ham.
ESPN reported Dave McMenamin appeared on a podcast recently and made big claims. Dave said the word around the Lakers camp is that the front office is not happy with Darvin Ham’s tactics. Apparently, Ham made LeBron James play for more than 40 minutes despite knowing his fitness limitation. Ham knew LeBron was struggling and still decided to cut down his rest time. With James now entirely out, the front office has held Ham responsible for the injury aggravation.
“It’s not the minutes, it’s the minutes while a player is dealing with something,” said Dave McMenamin.
Shannon Sharpe Confident Of LeBron’s Return
Former NFL player and NBA enthusiast Shannon Sharpe appeared on the “Undisputed” show and spoke about LeBron James’ condition. He said that James has been reeling under the injury since the start of the season. Despite that, he continued to play for the team. Moreover, Sharpe feels the injury is going to linger. However, the former NFL player is confident of James’s return for the upcoming game against the Pelicans.
Shannon said James is a fighter with immense pain tolerance. Further, his team needs him more than ever at the moment, and hence LeBron will step up for tomorrow’s game. Meanwhile, LeBron James is still placed on the injury list for tomorrow’s game. The final status will be known just moments before the game actually begins and the final assessments take place. On the other hand, the LA Lakers are most likely to miss the playoffs for the second time in a row this year, as their scoreline stands at 26-32.