The Los Angeles Lakers will be nearly unrecognizable tonight, as they face off against the San Antonio Spurs. As the second night of a back-to-back set, absences were to be expected, but this string of losses carries a little bit of extra weight, including the end of a 21-year streak for the King.
Fresh off a home loss to the Thunder last night, where the Lakers played without Luka Doncic, they could enter Tuesday’s showdown without their entire starting lineup. Luka Doncic (hamstring), LeBron James (foot), Austin Reaves (calf), and Marcus Smart (ankle) have been ruled out for the contest. Deandre Ayton is questionable with right knee soreness.
It’s shaping up to be another loss for the Lakers. Meanwhile, for James, it marks the end of a historic streak. Since this absence will mark his 18th, he’ll be officially ineligible for NBA awards, including All-NBA honors. It marks the end of a 21-year run for James, which saw him make at least one of the three All-NBA rosters.
This season, more than most, has been a struggle for James to stay healthy. He missed the first 14 games of the season with sciatica before later revealing he’s also dealing with arthritis in his foot. The Lakers have been carefully managing his workload ever since, limiting his action in back-to-backs and other heavily packed portions of the schedule. At this point, he’s missed a total of 18 of the team’s 42 games.
Sadly, this is only the latest of LeBron’s streaks to end this season. Back in December, he had a lot to say after his historic 10-point scoring streak was broken against the Raptors. It was one of the first big signs that James’ decline had begun, but he followed it up with perhaps one of his best stretches of the season.
In this case, it’s hard to say how LeBron will answer, but the Lakers will need the best version of his game to have any hope of coming out of the West. Fortunately, with averages of 21.8 points, 5.7 rebounds, 6.9 assists, 1.1 steals, and 0.6 blocks per game on 50.2% shooting from the field and 30.6% from three, James’ impact is more than enough to help this team make a run.
Beyond that, however, is where things get uncertain. With his contract set to expire this summer, these next few months could very well determine how his last act plays out. After being ruled out of any NBA award recognition, the only thing he’s playing for now is the wins.
