LOS ANGELES – Tuesday’s matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves hit three consecutive games that LeBron James has been out of the Los Angeles Lakers’ lineup due to injury. James has been dealing with a couple of ailments, but Lakers head coach JJ Redick isn’t really surprised that the Lakers star has needed some time off this week.
Prior to the Lakers’ game against the Timberwolves, JJ Redick explained that the team was always looking at this stretch for possibly getting LeBron James some rest. That plan was just a little exacerbated after his tumble to the court during the Lakers’ loss to the Denver Nuggets last Thursday.
“We obviously want him in the lineup. When we were kind of approaching this stretch, and you see the six days in eight nights and two back-to-backs last week, you never know how his body is going to respond to a game and how his foot is going to respond,” Redick said during his postgame press conference. “So it’s not to say I expected him to miss a game, it just wouldn’t have surprised me if he needed a day or two to get his body right.
“The fact that he had the fall in Denver, he’s just trying to ramp up. He wants to be out there, and so do we, and hopefully he’s back soon.”
Redick reiterated that James is currently day-to-day, but that it could mean anywhere between two days and five or six days. James has been dealing with a foot injury all season, but he was recently listed with both an elbow and a hip ailment on the Lakers’ injury report. The elbow and hip issues were a result of his fall against the Nuggets.
James drove to the basket and was hit by Nuggets big man Nikola Jokic. No foul was called and he exited the game briefly before being able to return.
James is in the midst of a historic 23rd season in the NBA. He was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. James has appeared in 44 games this season, and his streak of consecutive All-NBA teams will end at 21 seasons.
James was selected to his 22nd All-Star appearance this year while averaging 21.4 points, 5.6 rebounds, 7.0 assists and 1.1 steals with splits of 50.4 percent shooting from the field, 31.3 percent shooting from the 3-point line and 74.5 percent shooting from the free-throw line.
