The Los Angeles Lakers, after battling through injuries for much of the season, are as close to full strength as they have been in some time. The recent returns of LeBron James and Rajon Rondo means the Lakers are only without Lonzo Ball in their rotation.

Ball injured his ankle during the Lakers game in Houston in mid-January, an injury later ruled as a Grade 3 ankle sprain. The injury was expected to keep him out 4-to-6 weeks. On Friday, the first reports of Ball’s return surfaced with Brad Turner of the LA Times stating the team is expecting him back after the All-Star break.

The Lakers are also expecting to get Ball back after the All-Star break. The point guard suffered a left ankle sprain Jan. 19 against the Houston Rockets and was expected to be out four to six weeks.

A rough initial timetable of Ball’s return given the 4-to-6 week timeline would be roughly around the All-Star break. That, however, was on the generous side of return dates. As LonzoWire’s own Christian Rivas pointed out, Grade 3 ankle sprains often take quite a while to return from.

Last season, two players suffered Grade 3 ankle sprains: Reggie Jackson of the Detroit Pistons and Matthew Dellavedova, formerly of the Milwaukee Bucks. Dellavedova, who was originally given a four-week timetable, missed nine weeks and 29 games for the Bucks. He suffered his injury on Feb. 4 and didn’t return until Milwaukee’s regular season finale on April 11. Meanwhile, Jackson, who was given a timetable of 6-8 weeks, missed 12 weeks and 37 games. He suffered his injury on Dec. 26 and didn’t return until March 20.

The Lakers appeared to be fortunate in the injury as Ball didn’t require surgery. But ankle sprains are always tricky injuries to recover from and, given the conservative nature of the Lakers training staff, it was expected Ball would be out into March.

That still could be the case but, fingers crossed, this could be good news for Ball and the Lakers heading into the playoff stretch.