The Los Angeles Lakers released an updated injury report for Friday night’s matchup against the L.A. Clippers and LeBron James has been upgraded to available. The Lakers originally downgraded the 41-year-old to questionable earlier in the day due to left knee soreness.
Lakers head coach JJ Redick revealed pregame that James woke up feeling sore, which is why he was downgraded to questionable. After going through his usual workout routine to test it out though, it was determined that James would be able to give it ago.
That means that the Lakers will have their fully healthy roster available for really the first time all season.
James will be worth monitoring throughout the night, however, as the hope is he makes it out of the game without any further issues.
As Los Angeles prepares for a potentially frantic race to the finish line, Redick needs to make sure every player is healthy down the stretch, so it makes sense to be cautious with LeBron and manage his workload if he is not feeling 100%.
In addition to James being available, Austin Reaves is off of a minutes restriction and Luka Doncic remains the league’s leading scorer as he returns from a four-game absence before the break.
After acquiring Doncic, the Lakers were granted a rare circumstance of having three unselfish on-ball creators. That means that one or two of those stars should be capable of holding it down while others miss time due to injury, but the real vision was for them all to share the court together, which they will do against the Clippers.
As a whole, the Lakers yet to see what it is like to have his Big 3 on the court together for an extended stretch. The hope coming out of the All-Star break was to have the Lakers hit the ground running and build on-court chemistry, and now they have an opportunity to do that.
Seeing how Los Angeles comes out of the break can be a sign of what’s to come, so the Lakers need to take care of business against a Clippers team on the second night of a back-to-back to start the second half on a high note.
Rui Hachimura: people won’t appreciate LeBron James until he retires
LeBron James is polarizing figure when it comes to his standing as an all-time great. Many have him as the greatest player ever and some do not want to entertain it.
Regardless, James remains a one-of-one talent and there will never be another player like him. Rui Hachimura shares that sentiment, believing people won’t appreciate the Lakers star until he retires and is out of the limelight.
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