LeBron James exits All-Star Game with right hand injury, ruled out for remainder of game

After an active and highlight-filled first half, LeBron James was ruled out of Sunday’s All-Star Game for the remainder of the contest with a right hand injury. LeBron scored 13 points in the opening two quarters.

Looking at this with a glass-half-full approach, LeBron did not at all seem bothered by his hand during the halftime ceremony honoring him as the new all-time scoring leader. After the ceremony, LeBron was walking around shaking hands and offering high fives with the right hand he was ruled out for and didn’t seem the least bit bothered by the injury.

Fellow captain Giannis Antetokounmpo only played the opening possession of the game with his own injury. A right wrist injury limited the Greek Freak to an uncontested dunk and a foul before exiting the game.

Perhaps that served as a catalyst for LeBron to not feel guilty sitting out himself. The concern heading into the game was LeBron’s left foot that had caused him to miss time just before All-Star Weekend.

Considering he spent most of the first half throwing lobs to himself off the backboard and throwing down highlight dunks mixed in with nearly half-court 3-pointers, it didn’t seem like he was all that bothered by the foot. At no point did he appear to even be remotely favoring the injury.

Interestingly, LeBron noted previously the only way to heal the injury was rest, something he wasn’t afforded during the season. But playing just 14 minutes in the All-Star Game would go some way in affording him rest with the Lakers not set to play again until Thursday.

In short, LeBron showed no real signs of injury before being ruled out and didn’t show any signs after being ruled out. Perhaps he felt his work as a GM before the game was enough to get the win.

Take a deep breath for right now and save the worrying about the Lakers for later in the week.

You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.