LeBron James Out With Left Ankle Injury, Will Miss Preseason Finale

Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James, who has been battling a hampering ankle injury, will miss the preseason finale against the Orlando Magic.

James, who first tweaked his ankle during a Sept. 27 practice, sat out of Wednesday’s practice after he re-aggravated his sprained left ankle. He will miss the Cavs preseason finale against the Magic Friday, coach Tyronn Lue said, according to ESPN.

"He was experiencing soreness so he won’t practice tomorrow, he won’t play on Friday, either," Lue said. "Pretty mad, pretty pissed off. But I mean, it is what it is."

"Got treatment all day today, so I'm not sure if we should be concerned or not," Lue added. "But it's pretty sore today, so we'll just see what happens."

The Cavs All-Star will also miss Thursday’s practice, Lue said. It is unclear whether James will be active for the Cavs season opener against his former teammate Kyrie Irving and the Boston Celtics on Oct. 17.

James twisted his ankle during Tuesday’s 108-94 loss to the Chicago Bulls at the Quicken Loans Arena following an off-balance spin move to the basket with little over five minutes left in the first quarter. He walked it off during a timeout and managed to play 30 minutes, scoring 17 points with five rebounds, three assists, and eight turnovers.

"I’m pushing through it right now," he said after the game regarding his ankle. "I just wanted to try and test my foot, test my ankle to see how I would come out tonight. So, obviously tonight and tomorrow morning it’s going to be a telltale sign of how I came out tonight."

The 32-year-old reiterated that he wasn’t fully himself when asked about the condition of the injury.

"No. I told you it wasn’t 100 percent the other day," James said. "You asked me if I was a regular season game, could I have played. I told you no."

The Cavs struggled as a team in Tuesday’s loss against the Bulls, shooting just 40.5 percent from the field. The team held an extended practice Wednesday looking to right the ship, even without James.

"We cleaned it up today and pretty much put in four sets that they will run throughout the course of the game and throughout the course of the season that keeps the floor spread, but it's continuous action," Lue said, according to ESPN.

"We're going to work on it," he added. "We're going to continue to keep working on it and I think guys will get it down. They felt more comfortable with it today. We scrimmaged a lot today, and we put it in early. So guys feel more comfortable. We have to keep working at it. It's something new to us."

James, who has never missed a season opener in his 14-season NBA career, sat out nearly two weeks for training camp after spraining his left ankle during the second day of practice.