Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James—who has missed the past 20 games with a high right ankle sprain—will return to the court Friday against the Sacramento Kings at Staples Center.

The Lakers upgraded LeBron's status to “available” around 5:45 p.m., shortly before head coach Frank Vogel was set to Zoom with the media.

“He's been progressing each day that he's been doing his work,” Vogel said. “Obviously, he's worked extremely hard, extremely diligently as you would expect from him…He felt coming off of this trip that it's time for him to return to the lineup, so we're excited to have him back.”

Vogel said that unlike Anthony Davis, who was on minutes restrictions for his first two games back last week after suffering a soft tissue injury, James will not be on a “hard” cap, “other than being responsible” and keeping his minutes “reasonable.”

The Lakers head coach credited James with his work ethic in his recovery but declined to go into details on his process.

Vogel's announcement confirmed earlier buzz from Friday. The Athletic's Shams Charania reported that James was “expected to return” vs. Sacramento, shortly after ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski dropped that James was a game-time decision, depending on how he felt after testing the ankle out.

On Thursday, the Lakers' official status report listed James as “OUT” for Friday's game. The team upgraded his status to “questionable” on Friday afternoon.

Vogel said he watched the four-time MVP work out on Friday morning and supported James' interest in playing. He said LeBron made the determination to play once he arrived at the arena.

At around 4:45 p.m. PT, James took the Staples Center court to take some jumpers and go through said testing.

Evidently, he (or his right ankle) passed.

LeBron's impending return had been coming into focus for the past week. On Monday, he previewed his return with an Instagram video showing him running in an empty gym with the caption “Coming soon to a city near you.” Following the Lakers win over the Orlando Magic later that day, Dennis Schroder claimed he knew when James was set to return, though he would let the team make the announcement.

It's unclear precisely what changed over the past 24 hours. Perhaps James' ankle improved more than expected overnight or maybe he took a closer look at the Kings' league-worst defense and pegged it as an ideal matchup to shake off the rust.

James was dialed-in on both ends until the injury, playing in 41 of 42 games while averaging 25.4 points, 7.9 rebounds and 7.9 assists in 33.9 minutes with .513/.368/.703 shooting splits. (Truthfully, the Lakers brass probably isn't terribly upset their 36-year old superstar, who had been concerningly going all-out for a fifth MVP in 2020-21, received a six-week late-season break.)

The defending champions need as many reps as they can get at full strength before the playoffs. They lost three of their first four games since Anthony Davis returned last Thursday, inching them closer to the play-in zone.

James and Davis have only played 24 games alongside Schroder, and a grand total of zero games together with Andre Drummond. LeBron's return on Friday will give LA just 10 games to solidify their seeding and find a groove before the postseason.

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“You know what, I don’t think my brain can process what opportunities will come from him being on the floor,” Drummond said on Wednesday.

Vogel preached patience upon James' return, which he called a “massive adjustment period” for LeBron and his teammates, noting how nearly everybody on the roster will be forced to alter their roles on the fly. He said to expect some rust from the King, and an “imperfect” production from the Lakers.

“My comfort level is not enough,” Vogel said in terms of his confidence in the state of the Lakers'  chemistry. “Not in any way, shape or form. But it's just the nature of what we're in. We have to make the best of it and compete through it, and come playoff time we'll be ready.”

The Lakers (36-26) have scrapped to an 8-12 record with James, keeping them in the no. 5 seed in the West—one game up on the Mavs and two games up on the Portland Trail Blazers for the undesirable no. 7 seed. The Purple and Gold rank fourth in defensive efficiency since James was injured on March 20, but 28th in offensive rating.

LA will face five straight playoff teams (Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Clippers, Portland, Phoenix Suns, New York Knicks) beginning on Monday. Fortunately, five of their next seven contests will come at home. Vogel said no decision has been made on LeBron James' availability for their four back-to-backs this month.

This should be interesting.