The Los Angeles Lakers have some notable absentees for Friday’s clash with the Indiana Pacers at Crypto.com Arena. The Lakers are without LeBron James, Deandre Ayton, and Maxi Kleber, and head coach JJ Redick provided updates on the trio in his pregame press conference.
“LeBron has a contusion,” Redick said. “He’s a little banged up, but we think he’ll be available for Sunday. DA is day-to-day. With Maxi, we went ahead and got imaging this morning. Very favorable. So he’s also day-to-day.”
James, who is averaging 21.4 points, 5.6 rebounds, 7.0 assists, 1.1 steals, and 0.6 blocks per game in 2025-26, suffered a left elbow contusion in the fourth quarter of Thursday’s 120-113 loss to the Denver Nuggets. The 41-year-old had fallen to the floor after absorbing contact from Nikola Jokic on a drive to the basket and immediately indicated he was in pain.
James was taken out of the game, and while he did return, he was unable to play the final few possessions. After the game, the 22-time All-Star revealed his elbow was pretty sore, and he’d be day-to-day.
This will be the 19th game that James, who is also dealing with left foot arthritis, misses this season, and the Lakers have gone 11-7 without him so far. We’ll hopefully see him in action against the New York Knicks on Sunday.
As for Ayton, he was on the court for the first four minutes and 30 seconds of that Nuggets game, but didn’t play the rest of the way. Redick revealed after the game that the big man was dealing with left knee soreness.
Ayton, who is averaging 12.6 points, 8.2 rebounds, 0.9 assists, 0.6 steals, and 0.9 blocks per game in 2025-26, has been far from his best lately. Most recently, the 27-year-old was called out by Udonis Haslem for having a loser mentality.
Jaxson Hayes will start in Ayton’s absence, and he had impressed last time out against the Nuggets. Hayes had 19 points and five rebounds in the contest, and Redick would be hoping for another strong showing here.
Lastly, we get to Kleber, who is missing his third straight game with a lumbar back strain. The German is averaging 2.2 points, 2.0 rebounds, 0.6 assists, 0.4 steals, and 0.3 blocks per game in 2025-26.
Kleber and Ayton being out means we should see the Lakers play a fair bit of small ball here. They had a lot of success with it against the Nuggets, but still lost and dropped to 37-25 on the season. Despite the Lakers being short-handed, you’d expect them to return to winning ways against the Pacers, who have lost seven in a row to drop to 15-47.
