LeBron James returned from a two-game absence for the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday night, recording 18 points in 34 minutes as his team defeated the Memphis Grizzlies, 116-110. James was ruled out of the prior two contests with a foot injury but looked perfectly healthy throwing down a thunder dunk and busting out a patented chasedown block.
Afterwards, James made a surprising revelation: he's actually been battling that foot injury for years.
"Nah, it's not behind me," James said per The Athletic's Johan Buha when asked if he'd recovered after some time off. "It’s an everyday thing. It’s been lingering for the last few years, but I was able to do a lot of great things to reassure not only that, but I got kneed in the quad in the Atlanta game at the end of regulation by (Anthony Davis), that’s now back to 100 percent. Probably three days ago it was still pretty sore. But I’m able to get that back to 100 (percent), so that was great, so I was able to hit a lot of other elements as well."
Nobody would have been able to guess James was dealing with anything other than natural decline the last few seasons. Yet apparently he's been a little banged-up the entire time. Which makes his achievements, remarkable enough already for a player in his late 30s, even more so.
James and the Lakers will next take the floor on Thursday against the Sacramento Kings.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as LeBron James Surprisingly Reveals He's Been Battling Specific Injury for Several Years .
