The Lakers have been hit with a curse of not being able to play their two stars together for 5 full consecutive regular season games for almost 800 days, from January 27th 2021 to April 4th 2023. A shitty ass curse that I've been tracking for over a year that just wouldn't seem to end until now.
The full cursed, shitty, awful depressing timeline of events and my pain :
Early 2020/2021 : the defending champion Lakers fresh off a 7 week offseason look surprisingly spry, cruising to a 21-6 2nd best record in the league.
January 27th 2021 : last time Bron and AD play 5 straight full games in the regular season (until yesterday). AD was in and out of the lineup after that game with quad soreness.
February 2nd 2021 : AD goes down with a right heel and calf injury that keeps him out 30 games
March 20th 2021 : after holding down the fort without AD, LeBron injures his ankle and misses more than a month
April 22nd 2021 : AD returns
April 30th 2021 : LeBron returns ... for two games, before missing more time due to the ankle still being sore
May 15th 2021 : LeBron returns for good, but there are only 2 regular season games left in the season. The Lakers win the 7/8 play-in and face the Suns in round 1, but all hopes for a competitive series end when AD injures himself in Game 3 and aggravates it in Game 4. LeBron never looks 100% on that ankle for that series, having had just 3 games to ramp up.
Early 2021/22 season : AD is playing but LeBron is in and out of the lineup with groin pain
December 12th 2021 : LeBron finally plays 5 straight games for the first time that season, but AD misses a game with wrist pain when LeBron returns. He comes back and plays 2 games then goes down with an MCL sprain.
January 25th 2022 : AD comes back but LeBron misses time with soreness again.
February 16th 2022 : LeBron comes back and the pair play 4 straight regular season games together. My dumbass compiles this post thinking this awful stretch is finally over, but we still got more than a year to go baby, because in that 5th straight game, AD turns his ankle on Gobert's foot, and I cry myself to sleep.
April 1st 2022 : AD rushes back but by then LeBron is out with soreness and doesn't return for the rest of that godforsaken season. AD only plays 3 games anyway, clearly not close to 100%, and LA shuts him down as the Lakers miss the play-in.
Early 2022/2023 season : LeBron and AD play 4 straight games together but then LeBron misses a game with soreness. He returns a game later but misses 5 of the next 6 with injury/illness.
November 25th 2022 : LeBron returns to the lineup, but AD is rested one game with a wrist pain
December 6th 2022 : The pair plays 4 straight games and I prepare the post as they are both probable for the next game. They suit up ... and AD leaves with a weird stomach bug, throwing up in the tunnel. He returns the next game, and I shelf the post. They play the next 3 games and I get ready to update the post, when AD injures his foot badly and will miss several weeks, and I decide to give crack addiction a try because I need to escape this reality. AD finally returns after 20 games, and they play 2 games together before being rested.
February 7th 2023 : AD and LeBron have played 4 straight games together and my suffering is almost at an end, but LeBron decides to be a tease and is rested a couple of games with foot soreness.
February 26th 2023 : Westbrook is off the team, the new look Lakers look fun, LeBron and AD are on their 3rd straight game together and orchestrate a monster comeback against the Dallas Mavericks ... during which LeBron powers through a foot injury that makes him miss the next few weeks, seemingly out for the rest of the regular season and this motherfucking streak will extend until the heat death of the universe and existence is pain.
March 26th 2023 : LeBron makes a surprise return to the team against Chicago, weeks ahead of expectations.
April 4th 2023 : Having played 4 straight regular season games together, and both listed probable for a game in Utah, I dare not hope. I do not update the post. I will not jinx it again. They both play, and are up 10 points with 1:42 left in the game. 1 minute and 42 seconds until the pain stops. Until I can breathe again. Until the sun finally rises on this endless night. But of course, they decide I should experience edging once in my life, and choke the lead to add another interminable 5 minutes of OT to my near 800 days of pain. LeBron hits a layup at the end of OT, THT bricks a shot like the good ol days, and the Lakers dribble out the clock. It's over. It's finally over. They made it through 5 straight regular season games, in full, together, for the first time since January 2021. And they're 4-1 in that stretch with the loss being the game LeBron came off the bench for in his return.
Just in time to get rested against the Clippers I guess.
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