LeBron James conceded he was troubled by a foot issue in Sunday's 111-108 victory over the Dallas Mavericks where the Los Angeles Lakers rallied from 27 points down.
The Lakers pulled off the biggest comeback win of the NBA season, with James playing out the game despite sustaining a right foot problem late in the third quarter.
James appeared to tell teammates "I heard it pop" as he lay on the ground after his failed lay-up attempt where he suffered the injury.
Despite a noticeable limp post-game, James finished with 26 points on 10-of-23 shooting from the field with eight rebounds and three assists.
"It's been better," James told reporters. "That's for sure. But I definitely wasn't going to go to the locker room and not finish the game out tonight.
"Just understood the importance of the game and then with the momentum that we had, I felt like we could still win after being down.
"We'll monitor it the next couple days, see how it feels and go from there."
On the injury, Lakers head coach Darvin Ham added: "He's good. Our medical people are looking at him right now, he'll get reevaluated again in the morning."
Ham denied that James had said he heard a "pop" upon sustaining the injury.
Down 27, up 3. pic.twitter.com/rT2i3HEhfQ
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) February 27, 2023
The victory means the Lakers are 4-1 since their NBA deadline day trades that included the acquisitions of Jarred Vanderbilt and Malik Beasley, who both started on Sunday, along with D'Angelo Russell.
The Lakers are in a race to make the playoffs or the play-in tournament, sitting 11th in the Western Conference with a 29-32 record.
Their recent run of wins has boosted their playoffs hopes, particularly given the new-look line-up.
"I feel like we're in a good place," James said. "We're gonna try to continue that."
Ham added that the Lakers never got "discouraged" as they mounted the biggest comeback win of the season.
"The guys never got discouraged," Ham said. "They had that look of frustration, but it wasn't a look of defeatedness on their faces. Everybody just wanted to stay encouraged."
Never get discouraged — compete harder. pic.twitter.com/ojRZCVcd9M
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) February 27, 2023