The Los Angeles Lakers enter the day after Christmas with a nefarious air of uncertainty, as a rousing rout of the Golden State Warriors on the road was spoiled by news of a LeBron James groin strain that forced him out of the hardwood for the last 20 minutes of the game. The purple and gold have made strides since a difficult start to the season, but ultimately could find themselves in trouble if The King is forced to miss several games with the injury.

A team staffer suggested in a conversation with Bill Oram of The Athletic that it “might take nothing more than James missing 10 games with an injury to knock the Lakers out of the playoff picture.”

Most recently, the Warriors' Stephen Curry missed 11 games with a groin injury — and while James' record of health is unparalleled — the Lakers can't risk him re-injuring his groin and being out for longer than he needs to.

“I’ve never seen him hurt,” teammate Rajon Rondo said. “I was a little shocked and couldn’t believe it, but I know it’s a serious injury. Obviously, he wouldn’t sit out a game with (just) anything. So it was very serious.”

The Lakers managed to play very well without him on Tuesday night, even surviving a 14-1 run in the third quarter that evaporated their once 19-point lead in that period. Yet asking the likes of Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball and Kyle Kuzma to sustain that same effort for several games could be a lot more than what the team can ask of this young core without its King.

“This is uncharted territory, obviously with this group,” coach Luke Walton said. “But this is what we’ve been talking about. This is what we try to plan for, not that he gets hurt, but being able to play and win and compete when he’s not on the floor.”

The Lakers have a brief day off before taking on the Sacramento Kings, another team in the playoff hunt, that despite being four slots behind them in the Western Conference race, are only 1.5 games behind and could overtake them at a week's notice.

La La Land is surely holding its breath and crossing its fingers before an MRI reveals the extent of the damage, with the Lakers already expecting James to miss some games in the near future.