For the entirety of the Lakers’ run in the NBA playoffs, the team listed LeBron James on every single injury report they released with “right foot soreness,” which was a bit of an oversimplification of what James was actually playing through, even if his foot probably was sore from it. The issue stemmed from a torn tendon in his right foot, an injury he said every doctor he saw other than “The LeBron James of feet” told him would require surgery to heal.
Back when James returned, he also said that he would “get another MRI at the end of the season and go from there,” and that if he ultimately ended up “having to get surgery, you guys won’t know.