Just when the Los Angeles Lakers take one step forward last night as they defeated the Denver Nuggets, they presumably take a step or two back today due an update to LeBron James’ ankle injury.
Reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, James is expected to sit out the next two games for the Lakers to rest his right ankle. He sat out last night’s game against Denver after re-aggravating the ankle during Sunday’s loss to the Toronto Raptors.
Lakers star LeBron James is expected to miss back-to back games on Thursday (Clippers) and Friday (Blazers) to rest his right ankle, sources tell ESPN. James will proceed cautiously with ankle injury as playoffs approach.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 4, 2021
James could possibly miss more games, sources told Wojnarowski, and he and the team will continue to proceed with caution as the playoffs rapidly approach.
This comes at a crucial time in the Lakers schedule and season as their next two games is a back-to-back against the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday and most importantly against the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday, which will decide who gets the tiebreaker between the two teams in arguably the most important game of the season for both parties.
Following last night’s victory, the Lakers currently sit as the 5th seed in the Western Conference, holding a .5 game lead over the Dallas Mavericks in 6th and a one game lead over the Trail Blazers in 7th.
James has played just two games since returning from a career-long 20 game departure from the lineup, in which he said following Friday’s 110-106 loss to the Kings that “I don’t think I will ever get back to 100% in my career.”
