Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James left Sunday’s NBA All-Star Game with an apparent hand injury before halftime and did not return to play in the second half.
James sustained the injury while attempting to block a Pascal Siakem layup during the first half. Replays showed James’ pinkie finger on his right hand appeared to get caught and wrap around the rim as he tried to swipe Siakem’s shot.
Before exiting, James scored 13 points off 6-of-11 shooting from the field, finishing 1-of-5 from 3-point land, with four assists and one rebound.
While James’ injury probably isn’t serious, he did enter Sunday’s All-Star Game with a foot injury. The injury, which caused him to miss three of the Lakers’ last four games before the break, led many to speculate why James competed in the All-Star festivities.
Early this week, on “The Hoop Collective,” ESPN’s Dave McMenamin said some within the Lakers were already questioning why the team played James for so many minutes while still nursing an injury.
“Some of the people I speak to around the team, let’s put it that way, were like, ‘What are we doing here, playing him 40 minutes again?'” McMenamin said. “‘We’re going to run him into the ground.’ And it’s not necessarily minutes. It’s the minutes while a player is dealing with something that’s been pervasive.”
James wasn’t the only casualty on All-Star Weekend. Giannis Antetokoumpo of the Milwaukee Bucks also left Sunday’s All-Star Game with a pre-existing wrist injury.
Much like James, Antetokoumpo suffered his injury in a similar fashion while blocking a shot Thursday night against the Chicago Bulls.
