LeBron James may have returned from injury, but he still holds a grudge over Solomon Hill, who caused him to miss so many games and why the Lakers are in a play-in game against the Golden State Warriors.
In this game against the Atlanta Hawks, the ball was knocked loose as LeBron ran for it, Solomon Hill went a step further by diving for it and injuring him in the process. Hill’s dive caused the Lakers star to suffer a high ankle sprain. After the regular season wrapped up on Sunday, James reflected on that moment and seemed to throw shade at Hill.
“It’s been hard to tackle it. I was playing some of the best basketball of my career before the injury,” James said. “It was not a self-inflicted wound or something I could control. It wasn’t like I wasn’t putting in the work and then my body failed me. I literally had a grown man diving at my leg for a loose ball.
“I had to pay the price of that and take my time to get my ankle to where it is today where I’m able to be back on the floor. It cost me seven weeks of the season that I still think back on and hate it. I’m still not comfortable with it.”
James was sidelined for 26 of the Lakers’ final 30 regular-season games.
Montrezl Harrell and Dennis Schroder both called out Hill for the non-basketball play.
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“I really don’t feel like it was a loose ball play, and he had to go through his leg to get the ball,” Harrell told reporters after the game, per Silver Screen & Roll. “I don’t know how you feel like that’s a loose ball and go after a loose ball, but like I said, that’s neither here nor there, man.”
Hill responded on Twitter saying he would never “disrespect the game” by purposely injuring a player.
