LeBron James is required to miss back-to-back games against the LA Clippers and Portland Trail Blazers this week as he rests his injured right ankle, as per they.
Discomfort persisted for James throughout the end of the week when he played two games following a six-week absence. He left Sunday’s loss to the Toronto Raptors and didn’t play in Monday night’s urgent 93-89 victory against the Denver Nuggets.
James is averaging 25.0 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 7.8 assists while shooting 51.3% this season for the Lakers, who after Monday’s success sit in fifth spot in the Western Conference with narrow leads over Dallas Mavericks and Portland Trail Blazers.
Wounds to James and individual All-Star big man Anthony Davis have stalled the Lakers subsequent to winning the 2020 NBA title. James has played in only 43 games this season, with Davis showing up in significantly less (29).
A slide into The Play In-Tournament would place the Lakers in the unprecedented situation of a defending champion being compelled to win one of two games to make the end of the season games (accepting they finish seventh or eighth).
With or without James, the Lakers’ path to the playoffs gets no simpler this week with critical Western Conference games against the Clippers, Blazers, and Suns.