LeBron James Reportedly Will Return from Abdominal Injury for Lakers vs. Celtics

LeBron James is back.   

The Los Angeles Lakers star will return to game action on Friday night against the Boston Celtics for the first time since Nov. 2, per Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.

A minor ankle injury forced the 17-time All-Star to miss a pair of games early in the 2021-22 NBA season. Less than a week after returning to the court, he was sidelined again due to an abdominal strain.

On their own, the injuries weren't cause for major concern. Taken together, though, they raised questions about whether the mileage was beginning to add up for James.

The 36-year-old was limited to 55 games in 2018-19, the fewest of his career to that point, and then logged 45 appearances in 2020-21. He was operating at less than 100 percent when the Lakers bowed out to the Phoenix Suns in the first round of the 2021 playoffs.

Rather than one significant injury taking him out for an extended period of time, the more likely outcome for James as he ages is that he's increasingly unlikely to shake off what would have been niggling issues earlier in his career.

Preserving his health for the postseason is the Lakers' primary objective, but they can't lose sight of how they need to build some continuity between their three biggest stars (James, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook) during the regular season.

Given the time he has already missed, Los Angeles can ill afford to lose the future Hall of Famer again.