LeBron James is hoping to return to the Lakers’ lineup for Tuesday’s game against the Knicks, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic.
If James can’t go Tuesday, then Wednesday vs. the Rockets will be his targeted return, Charania reported.
Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports added the same after hearing James has put together “really good days of workouts at a high level” and is making a nice recovery from his sprained ankle.
More specifically, it’s been a high right ankle sprain that kept James sidelined for 20 games. He returned April 20 to appear in two games, then went out again with the same injury. So he has missed the previous four.
At this point, all the Lakers can hope is that James and Anthony Davis are healthy for the playoffs. Right now, the defending champions are in seventh place in the Western Conference and aiming to avoid the play-in game. But a healthy LeBron in a play-in tournament sure beats a sidelined LeBron with a No. 6 seed.
James, 36, is averaging 25.0 points, 7.9 rebounds and 7.8 assists on the season. Without him, the Lakers resemble Davis’ old Pelicans teams.
