LeBron James wasn’t on Lakers bench because he was getting treatment

What’s left of the Los Angeles Lakers season is a collection of formalities and changing lottery probabilities. So perhaps it’s not a shock that the team felt compelled to release a statement about, of all things, LeBron James not sitting on the bench during the Lakers loss in Milwaukee on Tuesday.

According to Tania Ganguli of the Los Angeles Times, the Lakers told reporters that James was receiving treatment during the game for the groin injury that he first sustained on Christmas Day.

The Lakers say LeBron James was not on the bench tonight because he was getting treatment during the game. James missed the game with a sore left groin, a remnant of the injury that caused him to miss 17 consecutive games in December and January.

— Tania Ganguli (@taniaganguli) March 20, 2019

The season for the Lakers is over and beyond getting free agency right this summer, a healthy LeBron is paramount to any future success they have. It could also be that the Lakers are setting the stage to eventually put LeBron on ice for the rest of the season.

After finishing up their road trip on Tuesday, they’ll have a few days off until they play the playoff-bound Brooklyn Nets and former Laker D’Angelo Russell.