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The Los Angeles Lakers are trying to keep the boat afloat without LeBron James, but it could be a while before “The King” is back on the court.
Lakers coach Frank Vogel said in his initial update that James would miss “at least a week” with an abdominal strain. However, that vague timeline might be a bit unrealistic, at least according to a report from The Athletic, which spoke with former Lakers’ former head strength and conditioning coach, Tim DiFrancesco.
“Especially the way he plays, it’s tough for me to see him getting back under four weeks,” DiFrancesco told The Athletic after posting a breakdown of the injury on Instagram. “Then again, he’s a different dude, so I wouldn’t put anything past him. … These are such delicate injuries that can respond to rest with pain relief quickly, but they are highly susceptible to re-injury if returned too quickly.”
Vogel spoke to reporters again prior to Monday’s game against the Hornets and didn’t exactly sound optimistic about James returning anytime soon. Per the head coach, there is no timetable or update on James’ injury.
The start of the year has not been kind to the 36-year-old James, who has also dealt with an ankle injury early on. That injury was concerning because the four-time MVP missed 26 games last season after being rolled up on by Hawks wing Solomon Hill.
Lakers Have Not Functioned Well Without James
James is the unquestioned leader of the Lakers and does a little bit of everything for the veteran-laden squad. Heading into Monday night’s matchup against the Hornets, the team was just 1-3 without James in the lineup.
“He’s a big key to our team, but we’ve still got to play,” Davis said last week. “Don’t know how long he’s going to be out, but still have to find ways to win basketball games. We can’t control him playing or not playing. What we can control is going out and winning basketball games with the guys that we have. And we have enough pieces to still win basketball games, even though he plays a huge part to both ends of the floor to what we do.”
The Lakers allowed yet another coming against the lowly Thunder without James in the lineup and were not competitive in a 105-90 loss to Portland over the weekend that wasn’t as close as even the final score indicated.
Lakers Trying To Build Chemistry With Westbrook
The problem with James missing time is that the Lakers are trying to build some cohesiveness with Russell Westbrook now suiting up as their starting point guard. Westbrook had a miserable showing against the Trail Blazers, managing just eight points on 1-of-13 shooting.
“He’s shown flashes of being great for us,” Vogel said. “We all didn’t have a good night. The whole team didn’t have a good night. We’ve got to find ways as a coaching staff to help him and put him in a position to succeed. It’s on all of us to make sure that happens, to make sure he gets comfortable and feels good about the environment around him.”
The good news for the Lakers is that Talen Horton-Tucker is expected to make his return soon, giving LA a nice boost. Horton-Tucker is one of just three holdovers from last year’s roster. He’s expected to practice on Tuesday and has been cleared for contact.
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