In a Friday afternoon surprise, Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James has been upgraded to “questionable” for tonight's matchup against the Sacramento Kings at Staples Center.

James (high right ankle sprain) has missed the past 20 games since Atlanta Hawks forward Solomon Hill fell on his leg on March 20.

According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, James will test his ankle pre-game and consider taking the floor to face the Kings. If not, he'll likely return on Sunday vs. the Toronto Raptors.

Evidently, something changed within the past 24 hours. On Thursday evening, the team's official status report listed James as “OUT” for the Sacramento game. The Lakers formally upgraded his status following Woj's report.

Furthermore, Shams Charania of The Athletic noted that LeBron is indeed expected to return against the Kings.

The Lakers organization, mostly via head coach Frank Vogel, has steadfastly labeled James as “out indefinitely” and has declined to provide a target return date. In general, they've strategically provided few details into his recovery.

However, momentum towards a return for the King has been picking up steam since last weekend, when Woj reported that James was targeting a return “early next week.”

Two days later, LeBron fed the hype by posting a black-and-white video of him lightly running, with the not-so-cryptic message: “Coming soon to a city near you.”

Later on Monday, following L.A.'s win over the Orlando Magic, Dennis Schröder claimed to know LeBron's target return date, but said he would let the team (or, as it turns out, Woj) disclose that information.

The Lakers welcomed back Anthony Davis — who had been out since Feb. 14 with a calf strain — last Thursday against the Dallas Mavericks in the first game of a four-game road trip. Despite his return, the Lakers dropped three of four games as the team initially struggled to re-acclimate a rusty AD.

“We lost three of the last four. You want it to happen right away and go 4-0 on this trip, that didn’t happen,” Vogel said about the first look at the Andre Drummond-Davis chemistry following a disappointing loss to the Washington Wizards on Wednesday. “We just gotta look forward…put this trip behind us.”

LeBron's return — whether it be Friday or Sunday — should certainly make that easy.

The Lakers (36-26) have gone 8-11 without James, good enough to hold down the No. 5 spot in the West but not good enough to ensure they'll avoid the play-in tournament They currently sit one game up on the Mavericks, and two games up on the No. 7-seeded Portland Trail Blazers.

Beyond the standings, James' return can't come soon enough. L.A. has maintained a top-4 defense without their lead communicator, but the offense has plummeted to 28th in efficiency since March 20.

More pressingly, the Lakers will have fewer than 10 games to re-incorporate LeBron and sync up him, Davis, Schröder, and Drummond before the postseason.

L.A. will face the Denver Nuggets on Monday — the second leg of one of four back-to-backs down the stretch. That game will also kick off a slew of consecutive contests against playoff teams: Los Angeles Clippers (5/6), Portland (5/7), Phoenix Suns (5/9), and the New York Knicks (5/11).