LeBron James On Injury-Plagued Season: "It's Been A Rough Year For Me..."

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If there's one player who has always seemed exceedingly more durable than the rest, it's LeBron James. Every year, he is consistently available for his team, no doubt thanks to habits, and the conditioning he has practiced over his 17-year career.

But year 18 has been particularly brutal for King James. After suffering a high ankle sprain months ago, he hasn't quite been himself, and it continues to bother him even now, in the first round against Phoenix.

Speaking on his rather uncharacteristic struggle with injuries this season, LeBron described his experience and how he's dealing with it:

“Obviously it’s been a rough year on me as far as physically with my ankle and dealing with that trying to get it back to where it was before the injury,” LeBron said, via Ron Gutterman of Lakers Nation.

But every day is a step forward and we’ll continue to put the work into it with my treatment around the clock, getting it to, like I said, where it was before the injury and until then my teammates will continue to hold me down while I try to make plays for them.”

L.A. currently holds a 2-1 lead over Phoenix in round 1, a matchup that has been not been easy by any stretch.

And while they might end up closing out this series, it's going to be tough for them to repeat if James is compromised the rest of the way. If they do advance, LeBron is going to have to do everything he can to prepare his body and get it back to 100%.

Nonetheless, will be interesting to see how he deals with his failing body moving forward.