7:47pm: The Lakers have officially confirmed that James will be able to play against the Kings, tweets Kyle Goon of the Orange County Register.
1:49pm: Lakers star LeBron James is on the verge of returning from the high ankle sprain that has sidelined him for the team’s last 20 games, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
According to Wojnarowski, James has been upgraded to questionable for Friday’s contest vs. the Kings. The four-time MVP plans to test his ankle during warmups and make a game-time decision on his availability. If he’s not ready to go tonight, he’d tentatively target Sunday vs. Toronto for his comeback, Woj adds.
Although James missed more total games in 2018/19 (27) than he has so far this season (21), the 20-game stretch since March 20 represents his single-longest absence during his 18-year NBA career.
Whether his return comes today, Sunday, or sometime next week, the Lakers will welcome back their All-Star forward with open arms. The team began the season on a 28-13 run, but has gone just 8-13 since the game in which LeBron got hurt.
Home-court advantage is almost certainly out of reach for the Lakers, who are 5.5 games back of the fourth-seeded Nuggets, but getting the 36-year-old back in their lineup would put them in position to secure the No. 5 seed. Currently, L.A. has just a one-game lead on the sixth-seeded Mavs and a two-game lead on the No. 7 Trail Blazers.
Nope he’s still hurt, blow up the team and start over…Tinseltown has fallen
Did you eat paint chips as a kid?
You must not hang around here much, at least not enough to realize I was pretending to be this site’s most notorious Lakers hater
The saddest thing is that Kings have only 32% chance to draft top 4 picks and 8% to draft 1 pick
Wish LeBron and ADs beat kings today
Ouch! To soon?
Still don’t get this thing with sprained ankles nowadays. I’m not the one with the “everything was better in the 90s” agenda, but still, it seems to me that back in the day players sprained an ankle, got it taped and were back on the court the next game. Now, you sprain an ankle and are taken off the court in a wheelchair and are out for a month or two.
LBJ will never be the GOAT. MJ never missed a game or was on a minutes restriction
He did lol. He missed almost a whole year. And was on minutes restriction when he came back. Just alittle research man. It was highlighted on Last Dance. All the LeBron haters r so funny. Appreciate the fact he’s one of the best ever and quit the hate. Shows the ignorance of so called basketball fans. Real fans watch him play and know he does things no one else can on the court. He’s not better then MJ but he’s #2 hands down
1) Jordan missed a year because he broke his foot. In fairness, that’s not really an injury you can play through.
2) LeBron left a Finals game against San Antonio (where Miami ended up getting routed) because of leg spasms. Jordan dropped 38 against the Jazz with a severe case of the flu.
Having made those two points, there are a lot of things I’ll harp on LeBron about—but missing time isn’t high on the list. Guy is probably the most durable player the game has ever seen.
A severe flu means dead… Flu is short for influenza. The diagnosis of a cold is sometimes called “flu-like symptoms”.
That day it was called a “viral infection”, a famously pompous label, not used before, except a cold had to be called something special because it was Jordan.
But it was not a cold either… Colds can be set aside if necessary. It was food poisoning, worse, but not something travelling athletes want known. Account:
link to bleacherreport.com
As for the Spurs game, the AC did not work and it was too hot to host a BB game, but TV said they could not change times. It was very very very suspicious b/c the Heat had LJ & DWade, who due to thigh size could be expected to suffer first. Sabotage IMO
Right, my fault—I do remember hearing the food poisoning thing, slipped my mind. Yet I think the larger point stands; dropping 38 in the NBA Finals, whether with flu-like symptoms or food poisoning, is a Herculean act.
As far as the Spurs game, you’re arguing sabotage based on thigh size? I’m all for a good conspiracy theory, but if I was rating plausibility—I would say it’s more likely a pizza joint in Utah gave Jordan some s***y pizza than the San Antonio Spurs broke their AC based on the circumference of Wade and LeBron’s thighs.
But anything’s possible.
High ankle sprain is a helluva lot different than the garden tape your ankle variety sprain you are jockeying
Jordan’s record is 6-0 and bron is 4-6 and you call lebron the goat how about you look at his finals record Jordan’s final record is 6-0 he is undefeated at the finals has Lebron did that no Lebron did not go undefeated
Ah, the old “criticize a player for making 10 Finals appearances” argument. Classic.
Did lebron win all 10 of them
Nope James didn’t win all 10. I guess Jordan wasn’t even good enough to get to 10 finals.
Bill Russell played in 12 NBA Finals, including 10 in a row, and won 11 championships. Wouldn’t that make a far better argument for him being the GOAT instead of LeBron James (or Jordan)? Classic.
Except bill russell played against like 5 teams and had loaded rosters. People act as if pippen (not top 50 all time) and rodman (only there for 3 rings) equals what lebron has played with. Hilarious.
Did he win all 12 of them
I’m going to give MJ one benefit here: I’m not counting his mid-life crisis Wizards nonsense.
Leaving that aside, Jordan played 11 healthy seasons (*not* counting his injured season of 85-86, *not* counting when he came back out of shape in 94-95—which I think is fair).
Out of 11 healthy seasons, he went to the Finals 6 times and won 6 rings.
There’s no other player, save for maybe Bill Russell, who even approaches that level of dominance.
Why is everyone so obsessed with naming a “GOAT” anyway? Russell, Jordan, and LeBron all played in different eras and each contributed something unique to the game. Why can’t we just appreciate their greatness? I genuinely don’t understand the point of getting into ferocious arguments over something that we will never reach an objective answer for
Totally…”Oh LeBron is just the second best all time” is supposed to be an insult.
Try to learn the meaning of words
Cancel that. I think Lemus got modded out.
These MJ vs LJ arguments are not universally popular. They seem to attract the most juvenile arguers.
They will be lucky to go .500. More likely 4-6 in last 10 gms. Just chk out their schedule. 4-6 gets you to 40-32. That’s looking like 6th seed to me. Which means Clippers in the first rd. I doubt Denver catches them. Lakers are not beating Clippers in 1st rd of playoffs. So it’s one and DONE this yr.
What if they do?
They can’t beat the Clippers healthy. But at least it could have been a great series. You don’t come back and just walk in and beat a top team in playoffs. AD don’t have the basketballs to do it. Bron might , but his arrogance just got the best of him. And I like Bron. Brons run is Over .
hmm i’d love lebron prove you wrong… i guess we could only wait…
Arrogant Knicks fans…. back like they never left
Yea it’s going to be the nets this season winning the championship not the lakers or maybe clippers winning but it’s mostly likely the nets
I don’t normally root against players, but LeBron makes it easy.
Agreed. The truly uneducated narcissist thinks that he is expanding the game for the betterment of future generations….looking at ratings he is actually doing the exact opposite. Even while people were locked inside due to a pandemic his nba couldn’t even draw up an average of 6 million views a night….ahahahahaha
So you’re a lebron hater!?
Lakers seemed willing to hold out LeBron and AD until the banner game but this is an act of urgency. If you think this team is afraid of the Clippers you must be on that dope.
The nets are winning the championship this year they have the pieces of you think the lakers are winning your mom dropped you on the floor when you were a baby
lol Clippers are going to eliminate Lakers with a fresh Kawhi and PG on fire. Lebum better hope they dont meet in the first round
Have you no respect for the reigning defending undisputed NBA champs?? That attitude is what got them bounced in the 2nd round last year. You’d better hope Palmdale P and Riverside county Kawhi learned their lesson or else the Clippers are sailing back to Cancun
Lakers are mickey mouse champs. got taken to 6 games against a mediocre Heat team & Clippers always beat them when they play eachother
Drseuss69 keep holding out hope, I’m no fan of lecry but this take is toxic and bad.
DrSeuss is right I’m just gonna word it differently. Lakers won a championship played at Disneyworld* Heat ran thru a mediocre east* Clippers have proven they can win meaningless regular season games and choke when it counts* 17x Championships and counting if you’re not a Celtics fan you just can’t relate.
Anyone who thinks the Lakers shouldn’t afraid of the Clippers is on dope.
*if
LeBron just missed the potential game-winning shot with 3 seconds left, great job!
Im sure you watch way more laker games then rockets))
Yeah definitely time to blow it all up they have zero chance of repeating since LeBron missed a critical shot in his first game back from injury. I guess it’s time for me to buy a Rockets jersey