When LeBron James’ right ankle twisted abnormally on Saturday afternoon and he didn’t superhumanly shake it, a layer of intrigue was added to an already peculiar season.
That fragile walk to the locker room triggered a baton signal for the rest of the NBA, at least for those with a real chance of reaching the NBA finals. James’ second semi-serious injury in three seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers is not so much a sign that he is dwindling – because he can show up in a week, tearing off his cape like James Brown – but it’s one more sign of that season it’s not like any other in recent history.
And if there’s a window, you’d better have a crowbar handy.
It was an abnormal 12 months for the NBA. His season break due to COVID-19, then restarting it at the Orlando Bubble and then coming back a few weeks later to maximize every available dollar, was bound to cause some athletic casualties.
Everyone was on high alert to see how the Lakers would handle the quick turnaround, and with Anthony Davis already on the shelf indefinitely, LeBron joins him.
It could mean much needed time off for James, and with Davis ‘injury history, that calculation had to be taken into account when planning the Lakers’ season. Ultimately, this can be a mirage, mere construction cones on the way to the finals.
No one doubts that one of the two will be available for when the games really count, but the advantage may come to other contenders in the friction in the later rounds of the playoffs.
Even if the Lakers fall from third place (where they sit on Saturday night) to even sixth (2.5 games before Portland, sixth place), there isn’t a building they are intimidated by or a team that they fear reasonable health.
Fans are slowly being allowed to enter the NBA arenas, but it will be a long way from a squeaky atmosphere that can rock a game 5 or 7. The Utah Jazz and the Phoenix Suns may end up being formidable, but chances are the Lakers could be more concerned with Clippers or Nuggets in a series of playoffs.
Why teams should not remain static with LeBron out
Unless … one of these teams places some chips in the center of the table to make an important roster move ahead of Thursday’s trading deadline.
Candidates for acquisition often experience many pre-transaction maneuvers, but the return is rarely worth it.
Swapping future choices or accepting the ever popular swapping options is good food for the geeky basketball crowd, but opportunities to win or even beat the most awarded player in the game.
The last time we saw the Los Angeles Clippers, they were ready to leave Disney World, stifling a 3-1 lead in the second round for the Denver Nuggets. And although some furniture has been moved, they will have to make believers those who bought blindly last year – and here they say they desperately need someone to put pressure on their defenses, to make other teams uncomfortable and maybe add a dose of kerosene to the locker room.
They have been solid and more harmonious compared to last year’s “We have this” approach, but the Lakers have at least capitalized on staffing specifically to make life easier for a healthy LeBron. The Clippers have not yet done so for Kawhi Leonard, his resident superstar withdrew after this season.
It will take a long time for someone to fix their mouths and say “The Clippers will come from the West”, and they don’t even have much in terms of mobile personnel.
But they better try.
Utah is more complicated, with so many good players and a chemistry you have to be careful with. The recent slide raised some eyebrows, but getting a big chunk – even to help Donovan Mitchell – must be heavy, even if Jazz recognizes that this is a great opportunity to get out of the West.
Milwaukee has picked up PJ Tucker and is going to help. But there is more work to be done, especially since Miami is always on the prowl and anyone with a pulse knows that Pat Riley is looking forward to another chance against the Lakers at LeBron in the finals.
We hardly saw the Brooklyn Nets in top form, and while Kevin Durant’s hamstring injury has been treated conservatively, there is no guarantee how it will all go in two months.
They need it – and possibly a little bit more – to take the whole thing.
Whether LeBron should have won more MVPs is irrelevant (although four seem appropriate), but this point is undeniable: he is the most irresistible force in the league, the sun in which everything spins and perhaps at its best, the most impactful.
Its availability is not guaranteed, but you can bet, every day that it is absent will be felt. Every day between now and the switching deadline, the Lakers’ approach to adding reinforcements will be more widely publicized by other teams, building for the inevitable boom on Thursday afternoon.
LeBron’s absence is a reminder that the NBA is not what it was in team building. Franchises that try to stay a little too cute, refusing to go all-in because they want a decade of restraint instead of this real chance of champagne, find themselves outside looking inside.
It is this year.
And next year.
Then the league changes, the stars realign, the teams recalibrate and a new crop of impact players is already on the scene, knocking on heaven’s door.
Teams cannot mortgage their entire future, that would be foolish long-term planning. But no one can pretend that the things we knew to be true just two years ago have remained static.
Miami was reportedly in hooded purgatory.
The Boston Celtics had the best present and future of all.
Phoenix Suns was helpless, hopeless.
James Harden would headline a candidate in Houston for years to come.
One of the few constants of the time has sprained his ankle and is out indefinitely.
He’ll be back for sure, but who’s really going to be around to receive him when he comes back?
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