LeBron James’ Back Injury Pops Up Again
The Cleveland Cavaliers Big 3 has big concerns related to health. LeBron James missed two weeks last year, Kyrie Irving limped through the NBA Playoffs until going out with a knee injury in the NBA Finals. Kevin Love had his shoulder pulled out against the Boston Celtics.
LeBron’s back injury has popped back up as today reports came out that he received a shot similar to the one he got last year when he was out for weeks:
"LeBron James had an anti-inflammatory injection in his back earlier this week, Cavaliers general manager David Griffin told ESPN.com, and it could keep him out for the remainder of preseason.James has been dealing with a sore back, but the injection was mostly performed out of caution and to take advantage of the downtime before the start of the season."
Early last season Cavs fans saw a version of LeBron that they were not used to seeing. He was turning the ball over, not explosive and couldn’t finish in traffic. A ground based James was no fun and, more importantly, not effective.
The Cavs are saying things that seem to be trying to minimize panic among the fanbase. While the Cavs may have timed the injection to fit with their week off between preseason games and the start of the regular season, long term we know back injuries tend to linger.
LeBron has been dealing with this issues for a few years now. It is one of the reasons he decide to cut weight last year (we all remember the smaller LeBron that returned to Cleveland).
If Irving and Love were healthy, this news may not be that important. Even with this shot, it is likely James takes time off again during the season. It may not be the two week break that was last season but expect him to take time off after Irving and Love return to full strength.
The Cavs have been beset with injuries, which seem to be the lone thing standing between the team and a Championship. When healthy the starting 5 of Irving, James, Love, Timofey Mozgov and Iman Shumpert can compete with anyone. The bench, with Mo Williams, J.R. Smith, Richard Jefferson, Tristan Thompson and Anderson Varejao along with Matthew Dellavedova and Sasha Kaun, is amazingly deep.
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Sadly only Jefferson of that group isn’t coming back from injury or currently injured, or not signed (TT). The hope is that LeBron and Love will return near the start of the season, that Mozgov and Varejao will round into shape and Williams and Smith will be fully healthy come Opening Day.
The Thompson situation is another discussion indeed.
Does LeBron’s back injury worry you or do you think he will be fine?