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Los Angeles Lakers All-Star small forward LeBron James may not be able to rejoin a 34-36 LA club that desperately needs his scoring for the rest of the 2022-23 NBA season. He did avoid a surgery to treat his injured right foot tendon, but apparently the ailment is lingering. He is set to be reevaluated next week.

Brian Windhorst of ESPN revealed on his Hoop Collective podcast that a return timeline for James is fairly murky.

“LeBron is not close to returning from what I am told,” Windhorst said. “I know that everyone said the three weeks, but I think it was very clear that three weeks is when he was going to be given an official re-evaluation. It didn’t mean he was coming back in three weeks. 

“I know LeBron has played through injuries in the past, but I’m not 100% sure this is an injury you can play through. Remember a couple years ago when he had that nasty high ankle sprain when Solomon Hill rolled up on him from behind, and it was a wrecking ball to that Lakers season and he came back for the playoffs and was nowhere near himself. And then basically admitted afterwards that he shouldn’t have been playing and then completely shut down for the whole summer just to get that ankle right. I wouldn’t rule out that he couldn’t limp back in for the playoffs like he did there but he wasn’t himself so I don’t know what the Lakers can count on.”

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