“You want LeBron fresh for the playoffs” – Vince Carter believes Anthony Davis’ latest injury adds unnecessary physical toll on LeBron James

Life in the NBA is about to get a lot harder for superstar forward LeBron James and the LA Lakers. It was announced earlier this week that fellow star forward Anthony Davis will miss up to four weeks while sidelined with an MCL sprain. Davis suffered the injury in a road game against the Minnesota Timberwolves and will begin rehabbing to try to return as soon as possible.

For LeBron James and the Lakers, the injury to Davis presents another challenge. The team has struggled with inconsistent play throughout the early portion of the 2021-22 NBA season and will now face another form of adversity. While speaking Thursday on ESPN's "First Take," former NBA veteran Vince Carter talked about how the Anthony Davis injury could take a toll on LeBron James moving forward.

"It's going to ask for LeBron to do a lot more, and, yes, he can handle it ... but you want LeBron fresh for the playoffs."

Throughout the segment, Vince Carter talked about how teams usually try to get their "playoff run" going near the end of the season as they try to get into a rhythm and then carry that momentum over into playoff matchups. The problem for the Lakers is, they are going to need to turn on their focus early in the year, as the team is suddenly sliding down the standings in the Western Conference.

"You want your playoff run late in the season. We're still in the beginning of the season here at 32 games and he's exerting a lot of energy..."

Although superstar forward LeBron James has pulled off some impressive feats when it comes to carrying his teams to the playoffs throughout his career, this task could simply be too big of a hill to climb.

As of now, the Lakers find themselves with a 16-16 record this year, which currently places them in sixth place in the West. The problem is that the Lakers have plenty of teams right on their tail and an upcoming challenging schedule that features a showdown against the Brooklyn Nets.

With a suddenly depleted roster, LeBron James is going to have to do everything in his power to carry the Lakers back up the standings in the Western Conference.

LeBron has had his back against the wall a number of times throughout his career in the NBA and has figured out a way to get to the playoffs. It would be wise not to underestimate what he can do on the court, but many will wonder if LeBron can pull off another miracle and get the Lakers back on track.