LeBron Punched White Board After Game 1, Played NBA Finals With Severe Hand Injury
LeBron James played the last three games of the NBA Finals with a bone contusion in his right hand after punching a white board after Game 1, according to Sam Amick of USA Today and Brian Windhorst of ESPN.
Game 1 ended with J.R. Smith dribbling out the clock with less than five seconds left in regulation. The Cavaliers ended up losing 124-114 in overtime and then were swept by the Golden State Warriors. James was visibly frustrated with Smith on the court.
James reportedly was in a soft cast and underwent two MRIs on his hand. He told reporters that it was a "self-inflicted" injury.'
"The way we played, the calls that were made, I had emotions that the game was taken away from us," James said.
Windhorst said that James had not been practicing. During press conferences, James hid the injury from the media by tucking his arm in.
Windhorst added that the swelling on James' hand was "so bad after Game 1 that the imaging that they took couldn't even determine if it was a break."
"Pretty much played the last three games with a broken hand," James told reporters in the press conference.
James has a $35.6 million player option for next season. If James declines his player option, he will test free agency waters for the third time in his career.
