Lakers News: LeBron James' Injury Status, Carmelo Anthony Makes History, More
The Los Angeles Lakers won't fully exhale until the 2021-22 NBA season is behind them.
However, they can breathe just a tiny bit easier after he getting their first win under their belts. Normally, that might not qualify as something for a veteran team to celebrate, but given the many offseason changes to this roster, it was good to see the roster come together to squeeze out a win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday.
Speaking of that contest, it nearly played a pivotal role in the Lakers' season for all the wrong reasons. We'll explain why in the latest Lakers news roundup.
LeBron Survives Injury Scare, May Not Miss a Game
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Last season, LeBron Jmaes suffered a high right ankle sprain when Atlanta Hawks forward Solomon Hill crashed into his lower body. James lost 26 games to the injury and didn't feel right until the offseason.
So, you can forgive any Lakers fans who may have panicked when Memphis Grizzlies forward Desmond Bane crashed into James' same leg on Sunday night. James stayed on the floor for several minutes and worried history might have repeated itself.
"The first thing I was thinking to myself was, 'Not again,'" James told reporters. "Because obviously it was almost similar but not the same kind of play. Guys fall into my leg and there's nothing you can do about it and I couldn't get my leg out of there in time."
Luckily, James seem to have avoided the wrath of the injury bug this time around. He wound up logging 40 minutes in that contest and hopes to play in Tuesday's tilt with the San Antonio Spurs.
Carmelo Anthony Climbs to 9th on All-Time Scoring Leaderboard
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Carmelo Anthony has reached the point of his career where hoop historians are clocking of his moments to retell them to the next generations of basketball fans.
A big moment came on Sunday night. That's when the 37-year-old Anthony netted a season-high (and badly needed) 28 points to push his team into the win column and himself past Hall of Famer Moses Malone for ninth on the all-time scoring list.
"He didn't crawl up to that milestone," Lakers coach Frank Vogel said. "He blew the doors off of it."
Anthony trails only his teammate and 2003 draft classmate James among active players with 27,423 career points. Anthony is now looking up at No. 8 all-time scorer Shaquille O'Neal, who scored 28,596 points in his career.
Wayne Ellington Could Debut This Week
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The Lakers may not be showing it at the moment, but they could use more floor-spacers. That issue has so far been masked by blistering starts from James (14-of-29 from three) and Anthony (12-of-18), but once those two inevitably regress to the mean, someone will need to pick up the slack.
Veteran sharpshooter Wayne Ellington might be the best bet.
The 33-year-old has made a career out of shedding nets from distance and last season was one of his best shooting efforts to date (2.5 threes per night at a 42.2 percent clip).
A hamstring issue has kept Ellington out of the action so far, but Vogel told reporters Ellington is day-to-day and will hopefully make his season debut sometime this week.
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