The Los Angeles Lakers are back to the familiar position of struggling and needing to figure out how to get back on track. They suffered back-to-back blowout losses earlier this week to the Houston Rockets and Atlanta Hawks, dropping their record to 24-25.
To make matters worse, they will face the Boston Celtics, arguably the best team in the NBA, on Thursday as their six-game road trip continues.
In that contest, they will be without their two superstars as both LeBron James and Anthony Davis will sit out.
Via ESPN:
“James is dealing with soreness in his left ankle, and Davis is on the injury report because of bilateral Achilles tendinopathy and left hip spasms, which caused him to miss the Lakers’ 138-122 loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday.
“James and Davis participated in shootaround Thursday with the hope of improving as the day went on, team sources told ESPN.”
Thus far this season, James has missed only five games, while Davis has played in all but three of L.A.’s contests. Both have been consistently playing at a high level — James is averaging 24.9 points, 7.7 assists and 7.5 rebounds a game, while Davis is at 24.9 points, 12.1 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 2.3 blocks per contest.
As a result, both Jaxson Hayes and Jarred Vanderbilt will be in head coach Darvin Ham’s starting lineup on Thursday.
The Lakers are starting DLo, AR, Prince, Hayes and Vanderbilt, per Darvin Ham
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) February 1, 2024
The Lakers’ next game will be on Saturday at Madison Square Garden against the red-hot New York Knicks.
