LeBron James‘ sprained left ankle kept him out of practice Thursday; he won’t play in Friday night’s preseason finale; and may even sit out the Cavs’ first crack at Kyrie Irving on Opening Night.
LeBron James (ankle) shut down for preseason, Boston opener in question @clevelanddotcom https://t.co/d8bxRm8MwD
— Joe Vardon (@joevardon) October 11, 2017
Head coach Tyronn Lue says James is “pretty mad, pretty pissed off.”
LeBron has never missed a season opener during his 14-year NBA career.
Per Cleveland.com:
“He was experiencing soreness so he won’t practice tomorrow, he won’t play on Friday, either,” Lue said. “So, um, (LeBron is) pretty mad, pretty pissed off. But I mean, it is what it is.”
As for James’ availability against the Celtics next week, Lue said James “got treatment all day today, so I’m not sure if we should be concerned or not.
“But it’s pretty sore today so we’ll just see what happens.”
It would be a fairly large upset if James were to miss the season opener, as he’s never missed one in 14 seasons. He didn’t speak with reporters on Wednesday, but after the game Tuesday said “I definitely wanted to test it tonight knowing that at least if I tested it tonight I have a week until the regular season started if I don’t play in the game on Friday.”
