LeBron James suffered an ankle injury during the win over the GrizzliesCredit: Reuters

James played on in the win – but his diagnosis isn’t good for Lakers fansCredit: Getty Images – Getty

LeBron gave fans an Instagram injury update on Monday eveningCredit: Instagram

On-court microphones picked up LeBron claiming he “heard a pop” after going down in the third quarter of the contest.

Despite being in obvious discomfort, James played through the pain as the Lakers saw out a vital victory.

But reports suggest that after further evaluation LeBron’s injury is worse than originally feared.

NBA Insider Chams Charania tweeted: “There’s fear Lakers star LeBron James is likely to miss an extended period of time with his right foot injury.

“James suffered the injury in Sunday’s win over Dallas, played through it, and belief is he will be sidelined an indefinite amount.”

Charania later reported that James’ absence is likely to be “several weeks”.

Late Monday evening, LeBron sent out a cryptic message to his 147m Instagram followers.

He shared a snap of his ankle being elevated, captioning the pic alongside a host of sad emojis: “Fkn[sic] sucks.”

Losing James down the stretch could hamper the Lakers’ playoff hopes after a strong run of form since the New Year.

Following the game, LeBron told reporters: “[The ankle] been better, that’s for sure.

“But I definitely wasn’t going to go to the locker room and not finish the game out tonight.

“Just understood the importance of the game, and then with the momentum that we had, I felt like we could still win after being down.

“We’ll monitor it the next couple days, see how it feels and go from there.”

The Lakers are set to be without Bron as they face Memphis Grizzlies (36-23) tonight at the FedExForum.