The Los Angeles Lakers have been hit by the injury bug at the worst possible time as they are currently in the most difficult part of their schedule.
While they did get some pieces back on Sunday afternoon against the Phoenix Suns, they were still without two starters in LeBron James and Rui Hachimura.
Lakers head coach JJ Redick recently said he considers both forwards to be day-to-day, although both were ruled out of Sunday’s game.
It appears they are making progress though as according to Shams Charania of ESPN, James got in his first on-court workout before the Suns game and is around a week away from returning, while Hachimura could be back even sooner than that:
Reporting for ABC NBA Countdown: LeBron James has his first on-court workout today – with ESPN footage – plus a Lakers return timetable update: pic.twitter.com/xTeiMRblnp
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 16, 2025
Redick confirmed pregame on Sunday that James is ramping up and still considered day-to-day.
This is great news for the Lakers are they are in the thick of a tight playoff race as they fight for seeding in a loaded Western Conference. Before all these injuries hit them, L.A. was the hottest team in the league having won eight straight.
Considering the playoffs are just around the corner though, the Lakers will certainly be cautious with both James and Hachimura to avoid their groin and knee injuries, respectively, lingering and becoming a bigger issue. The Lakers’ depth has been tested without them and it’s cleat that L.A. needs to be at full strength in order to make a deep postseason run.
The statuses of both James and Hachimura will be worth monitoring moving forward, but it seems the Lakers’ forwards should be back in the lineup sooner rather than later.
Rich Paul not putting timetable on Lakers star LeBron James’ injury
While LeBron James is clearly making progress, his agent Rich Paul of Klutch Sports emphasized that they are not putting a timetable on his injury and the Lakers star will know when he’s ready to return.
“I think you have to manage it,” Paul recently said. “Obviously you see the reports that are out there and you have to pay attention to LeBron in terms of his postgame interview. He knows his body better than anybody. So we kind of have to follow him there. But look, he’s played a lot of basketball. All of these guys, coming off the Olympics, they’re playing across our league. So there’s been a lot of basketball played. For the older guys that have this type of injury, you have to manage it properly. Unfortunately, AD had the same thing. A little bit different, and [LeBron] even mentioned that as soon as he did it, the second thing he thought about was that. So you have to manage it with grace…I won’t put a timetable on it, I’ll let LeBron decide what’s to be done there. He has a great trainer and medical staff with the Lakers and Mike Mancias leads that for him. I’ll just be lockstep with those guys.”
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