LeBron James will miss Thursday night's game against the Golden State Warriors with a sore groin, the Los Angeles Lakers announced Wednesday.
LeBron James (sore groin) is out for tomorrow's game at Golden State.
Anthony Davis (sore left elbow) is probable.
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) February 26, 2020
James scored a season-high 40 points during Tuesday night's win over the New Orleans Pelicans, but he will not play against the Warriors.
This might just be a precautionary measure, as James was able to sit for most of the final few minutes after dominating the Pelicans for the majority of the evening. There is also no use in pushing a groin injury against the Warriors, who have the worst record in the NBA.
LeBron was 17-of-27 from the field and 5-of-11 from beyond the arc, showing an increasing level of confidence in his perimeter stroke while getting to the rim seemingly at will. He added eight rebounds and six assists on the night.
Much of the buildup to the game centered around it being the first meeting between LeBron and Pelicans rookie sensation Zion Williamson.
Although scored 29 points, he was denied on a number of occasions by Lakers froward Anthony Davis, and he also struggled to finish over Laker bigs on straight-line drives. Zion and the Pelicans kept matters close with a series of runs throughout the game, but LeBron was simply too much to handle.
The Lakers improved to 44-12 with the win, maintaining their hold on the top spot in the Western Conference.
Their upcoming schedule is relatively friendly (they play the Grizzlies and Pelicans again after the Warriors), so it might not be a surprise if James missed a few games, especially given he dealt with a groin injury last season.
Still, there are no indications this is anything more than a minor setback.
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