The Los Angeles Lakers have lost every single game since LeBron James got hurt, and they may have to prepare for another six games or so without The King in the lineup.
ESPN’s Shams Charania appeared Friday on “The Pat McAfee Show” and shared a noteworthy update on the groin injury that the Lakers star James is dealing with. Charania revealed that James, who is not with the Lakers on their current road trip, is not expected to return on Sunday when the Lakers return home to face the Phoenix Suns. Additionally, Charania said that he believes James will miss another week beyond that.
“They can’t rush it,” said Charania of the Lakers and James’ injury. “He is not expected to play Sunday on ABC against the Phoenix Suns. I would expect him to still miss another week, so that would put him at around two weeks [on the sidelines].”
A one-to-two-week absence was originally expected for James, who suffered a groin strain during last Saturday’s loss to the Boston Celtics (video here). But speculation of a potential early return arose this week when Lakers head coach JJ Redick announced that James had been upgraded to “day-to-day.”
That said, James is 40 years old now and has 22 seasons of wear-and-tear on his body. He also has a history of groin injuries, which have a tendency to linger if not addressed properly.
After losing on Saturday to the Celtics, the Lakers went on to lose on Monday to the Brooklyn Nets and lose again on Thursday to the Milwaukee Bucks. With Denver, Phoenix, San Antonio, Denver (again), Milwaukee (again), and Chicago coming up before James officially hits the two-week point, he could end up missing all of those games too.
Thanks to their recent skid, the Lakers have fallen from No. 2 in the West to No. 4 and are now just 3.5 games away from falling into the play-in tournament zone. With less than a month now left to go in the NBA regular season, the Lakers will have a delicate balancing act between chasing seeding and prioritizing James’ health for the playoffs.
