The Lakers’ injury concerns have now gone from bad to worse. According to the latest injury report ahead of the matchup against the Thunder tomorrow night, LeBron James has also been listed as questionable for the game due to his left foot injury management.
He could potentially join Luka Doncic (left hamstring strain), Austin Reaves (left oblique muscle strain), and Marcus Smart (right ankle contusion) on the Lakers’ sidelines as the team in purple and gold could be without four of their usual starters in their upcoming matchup against the Thunder.
The last time they faced the defending champions, they lost both their primary scoring options, Doncic and Reaves, to injuries on the same night that ended up being a 43-point loss for the Lakers (96-139).
And they are now at risk of losing another starter in an important game for the team in terms of playoff seeding. With four games left in the season, the Lakers are tied with the Nuggets’ record (50-28) and just one game ahead of the Rockets (49-29) for the third seed.
Despite having the tiebreaker over both these teams, if they lose any two of their upcoming four games, then they stand at risk of falling out of the top four seeds and losing home-court advantage in the playoffs. Thus, even when they have qualified for the playoffs, each of these final games could be considered a must-win for the Lakers.
Since they are facing the Warriors (April 9), the Suns (April 10), and the Jazz (April 12) in their final three games, it cannot be said for certain that they would win all of those games, especially as shorthanded as they already are, and two of these games are on back-to-back nights.
This also means that James may not play one of the games against the Warriors or the Suns, since every back-to-back game is uncertain for him at this age. The 41-year-old veteran has admitted that playing without Reaves and Doncic will be a challenge, which he may not be equipped to take on alone.
But just last night in a nail-biting loss to the Mavericks, James fell one rebound short of a 30-point triple-double. He is still capable of producing on both ends of the floor, but just needs more help than he would have in his prime.
Considering that the Lakers are expecting to potentially wait until a second-round matchup to get their star players back fully healthy, they need every bit of advantage they can get to try to go past the first round, potentially without both Doncic and Reaves.
