The Los Angeles Lakers updated their injury report for Tuesday’s game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, the second night of a back-to-back, and LeBron James (left foot injury management) is available despite originally being listed as questionable and Marcus Smart (right ankle contusion) remains out.
Additionally, Luka Doncic will make his return to the lineup after serving his one-game suspension. He will have to be careful in the final seven games of the regular season, however, as two more technical fouls would result in another one-game suspension.
Doncic has been on an absolute tear as of late, so getting him back in the lineup so provide a huge boost for the Lakers as they look to get revenge on the Cavaliers after getting blown out in Cleveland earlier this season.
For Smart, this will be his fifth straight game missed due to the ankle injury. Lakers head coach JJ Redick said on Monday that Smart remains day-to-day, although they want to make sure he is 100% healthy before returning to the lineup. Given how late it is in the season, that makes complete sense as they cannot afford a setback that would force him to miss time in the playoffs.
While James’ status was up in the air against his former team, he will give it a go and look to build off his triple-double performance in Monday’s win over the Washington Wizards.
JJ Redick believes Luka Doncic is MVP if Lakers finish strong
As the NBA regular season winds down, the MVP debate is heating up. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Victor Wembanyama are the two favorites, but Doncic is still in the mix as well. And given how well he has been playing lately, Redick believes he should win the award if the Lakers finish the season strong.
“I would just say that if we continue to finish the season the way we’re playing right now, and he continues to play that way — to me, he is the MVP,” Redick said. “But sometimes there’s recency bias and sometimes there’s the bias of a certain stretch of the season. When we started 15-4, you could’ve made an argument that he was the MVP then. He’s been the MVP for two of the three segments of the season.
“But I’ve said this all year, our losses are just so loud. I use that Jan. 18 day all the time. I don’t know what it is as of today, but as of our film session yesterday, we were tied for second in the league since Jan. 18 in terms of total wins. It hasn’t been as bad as people have made it out to be, particularly when you factor in all of the injuries that we’ve had, like a number of teams. I think we all feel really comfortable with where our top nine is when we’re healthy and he’s the engine that’s driving all of our winning. Certainly, we have a ton of guys starring in their roles. But he’s the driver.”
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