5 Injuries that will impact the 2019 NBA playoffs

#2 LeBron James

Los Angeles Lakers v Golden State Warriors

This past off-season the Los Angeles Lakers won the LeBron James lottery in free agency. The Lakers are a weak team without James and were not a participant in last season’s playoffs.

Expectations were high for this season with James and he was delivering for the Lakers’ faithful. The Lakers were 5th in the Western Conference on Christmas Day, just one month ago, when during a blowout victory of the Golden State Warriors, LeBron James pulled his groin. Since then, the Lakers have gone 5-10 and slipped back to 9th overall in the Western Conference.

It hasn’t helped that point guard Rajon Rondo has been out of the lineup although Rondo returned to the Lakers Thursday night. In the meantime, there was hope LeBron James would have returned last week but he missed contests against the Thunder and Rockets.

He has now missed Monday’s contest against the Warriors and Thursday night’s loss to the Timberwolves. James has missed 15 straight games to this injury and it’s the longest injury hiatus of his career.

Groin injuries are difficult in that a pull can become a tear if not allowed to heal fully. James could be out long term and, in the process, the Lakers hopes of a playoff run disappear.