LeBron James will miss his fifth consecutive game when the Los Angeles Lakers face the Los Angeles Clippers at Crypto.com Arena on Thursday night. It will be the second straight game James has missed while being listed as “doubtful” on the injury report.

What else did we learn on Thursday about the status of LeBron's left knee injury, which is still being listed as “soreness/effusion” and remains somewhat shrouded in mystery?

First, ESPN's Brian Windhorst went on “This Just In” to discuss how the “opaqueness” around various high-profile injuries around the league, including LeBron's, might affect how teams operate before the Feb. 10 trade deadline. Here's what Windhorst said about James and the Lakers:

“He's missed four games with some sort of knee injury the Lakers are not elaborating on. From what I'm told, he felt it during the Brooklyn game last week, decided he coukd play on it, and playing on it resulted in it really swelling up, and he's been trying to deal with it. WE don't know how long he's going to be out. Frank Vogel said yesterday he was ‘improving.'”

Next, The Athletic's Shams Charania provided an “update” on LeBron's status. Charania essentially repeated what Frank Vogel said after shootaround on Wednesday — James is day-to-day as he works with own medical team away from the Lakers facility to try and get his swelling down. Charania initially said the process may take “several days”, then ended his report with more hopeful phrasing.

Here was Shams' full report:

“LeBron James is going to continue to manage that knee injury. He’s dealing with a level of irritation, I’m told. So, it’ll be a day-to-day treatment, managing program that LeBron James will have. He’s expected to miss his fifth straight game on the road… he’s officially listed as doubtful. And he’s going to continue to rehab over the next several days, continue to get treatment and the hope he is that he’s back the next few days, if not the next few games.”

Finally, Vogel addressed the media 90 minutes before the Lakers and Clippers were set to tip-off.

So, there you go. Because LeBron is conducting his rehab away from the team, even those plugged into the Lakers don't have a ton of information on his status. The Lakers host the New York Knicks on Saturday. After that game, Los Angeles will have two more games before the deadline, and four more until the All-Star break.