LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers returned to action after the All-Star break with a matchup against the L.A. Clippers. Granted the Clippers are a below .500 team, but they have been playing inspired basketball as of late, making it a tough matchup for the Lakers.<\/p>\n
The main culprit behind their improve play is Kawhi Leonard, who originally was not named an All-Star despite looking like one of the best players in the league over the last two months. After struggling with lower body injuries, Leonard is finally back to form and he gave the Lakers issues by dropping 31 points on 11-of-19 shooting on Friday night.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, the Clippers star exited the fourth quarter at around five minutes due to ankle soreness. He did not return, leading to a purple and gold win<\/a>.<\/p>\n Hopefully holding Leonard out was precautionary and it\u2019s nothing of significance to keep him sidelined. James does not want to see that as he is a huge fan of the two-way star, sharing praise for Leonard after the game.<\/p>\n \u201cKawhi is awesome, man. He\u2019s the best. He\u2019s one of the best players ever,\u201d James said. \u201cI couldn\u2019t care less about the injuries. Those are things you can\u2019t control. You can only control the controllables and the things that he\u2019s been controlling is how he comes back and how he perseveres every single time. That guy is awesome. I swear I have nothing but great things to say about Kawhi and the type of basketball that he\u2019s been playing the last couple months. He is who he is for a reason. Not surprised by it. <\/p>\n \u201cOn another note, I was disappointed during the 2024 Olympic team when he wasn\u2019t able to go with us. I was looking forward to teaming up with Kawhi too as well. A little disappointed about that when he had to deal with another injury. I was looking forward to spending some time with him. Listen, he\u2019s great. He had 31 points in 12 minutes the other night. He\u2019s awesome. I could speak about him all night.\u201d<\/p>\n Since both James and Leonard arrived in Los Angeles, they have had some incredible battles against one another.<\/p>\n Leonard will be 35-years-old by the time next season starts and it will be intriguing to see how his games ages. The Clippers have roster decisions to make as well and perhaps their star\u2019s time may be numbered, but one person who isn\u2019t taking him for granted is James.<\/p>\n LeBron James explains how knee soreness began & desire to play through it <\/p>\n On the other side, LeBron James has had to manage his body as he maneuvers through his 23rd season. Leading up to Friday\u2019s game, James was downgraded to questionable due to knee soreness and jeopardized the Lakers\u2019 first chance of having a fully healthy squad.<\/p>\n Fortunately, he gave it a go and the four-time champion explained his through process behind playing through this particular ailment<\/a>. <\/p>\n