Report: Agent says LeBron James would be playing right now if it were the playoffs

LeBron James still has to wait until next week before he can return to practice with the Los Angeles Lakers, but according to his agent the superstar is feeling good enough to play right now if he really wanted to.

According to a report from Fox Sports 1’s Chris Broussard on Wednesday, James’ agent Rich Paul claimed that James would be playing right now if the Lakers were in the playoffs and that he’s only holding back to make sure he’s 100 percent upon his return.

That’s certainly an understandable course of action for James and the Lakers, who will need the four-time MVP to be at his absolute best if they have any hope of making a run through the house of horrors that is the playoffs in the Western Conference.

However, to get to that point, the Lakers first have to make the playoffs. And the team has shown it needs James for that, too. Since James went down with a groin injury on Christmas Day during a win over the Golden State Warriors, the Lakers are 5-7 and have fallen from fourth place in the Western Conference standings to a tie for eighth with the Utah Jazz. They run the risk of falling even further as they navigate a particularly tough stretch of games on their schedule.

James will miss at least one more game on Saturday against the Rockets and is cleared to practice starting next week. Whether or not he wants to play the Lakers’ first game next week against the Warriors on Monday might just be up to him.

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