Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James has enjoyed over a decade of healthy play, not having any sort of serious injury to his name throughout his career.
It stayed that way on Thursday night, even though there was a play during Thursday’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers where that could’ve potentially changed.
James was under the basket while a 76ers player went in for layup. New Cavaliers player Rodney Hood appeared to trip and fall, and did so right into James’ lower legs. James buckled and fell to the ground, appearing to roll his ankle.
But when he got up and tested his ankle, he seemed fine and was able to walk off to the other end of the floor.
Those types of plays are usually more devastating. Who can forget when Kobe Bryant fell into Andrew Bynum’s knees, resulting in Bynum being out for the season? How about when Zaza Pachulia clumsily fell back into Kevin Durant’s leg that resulted in a month-long recovery from an MCL sprain. Falling into anyone’s legs usually leads to some big problems.
But James walked away from the incident, which means he was unbelievably lucky. In the video, it doesn’t appear that he came out of it with any pain or any problems walking. He finished the rest of the game for the Cavs having played 39 minutes, contributing 30 points, nine rebounds, and nine assists on 12-24 shooting.
There is always a possibility, however, that James could feel something different the next morning. Maybe there will be some soreness or swelling he didn’t feel because his adrenaline was running at a high level.
But for now, James is OK and he continues his career being relatively injury free. The Cavaliers and their fans should be feeling a huge sigh of relief after that play.
