Los Angeles Lakers controlling owner Jeanie Buss entered this season with playoff expectations, expectations that had to be tempered after a slew of injuries had hit with purple-and-gold just when they had started to peak.

The Lakers lost their cornerstone player in LeBron James to a groin injury during a Christmas Day blowout over the Golden State Warriors that put them in fourth place in the West. Ever since, the Lakers have gone 5-9 and slipped out of the playoff picture, now ninth in the conference and a full game behind their in-arena rival, the L.A. Clippers.

Buss has been cognizant of the wave of events that have come crashing like a tsunami right into La La Land, noting she still expect to meet her playoffs expectations, but knowing it'll be based on how soon key players like James, Rajon Rondo and Lonzo Ball can return from their injuries.

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Via Sam Amick of The Athletic:

“Of course my expectations were to be in the playoffs, but given the injuries you have to see that, you know, that compromises you,” said Buss as a guest of ESPN's Zach Lowe in The Lowe Post. “Those are things that are out of our control. Certainly the team has kept us in there, that we're not buried at the bottom and there's light and hopefully we'll start getting these players back sooner (rather) than later.”

James has missed 14 games, the most he's ever had in any season of his career, his return — more than anyone else's — should prove pivotal to a Lakers' playoff push, having carried the weight of NBA Finals expectations in his broad shoulders for all 82 games of the Cleveland Cavaliers' 2017-18 season not long ago.