James doubtful for trip opener at Milwaukee
The Lakers' road trip has already gotten off to an unideal start.
Star forward LeBron James is doubtful to play in tonight's matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks because of the left ankle peroneal tendinopathy that he's dealt with for the last few months, the team announced on Monday.
If James sits out tonight, it'll be the 10th missed game of this season. The Lakers are 5-4 in games without James this season, including a 123122 home win over the Bucks on March 8.
D'Angelo Russell, who didn't play in Sunday's 150145 home win over the Indiana Pacers because of a nonCOVID illness, wasn't listed on the injury report for tonight and is expected to be available.
James played 38 minutes in the win over the Pacers, finishing with 26 points (8for-19
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shooting), 10 assists and five rebounds.
“It's a day-to-day process,” James said of his ankle after Friday's home win over the Philadelphia 76ers. “Every day I'm working on it, working at it, continue to make that priority No. 1 going down the stretch of the season.”
The Lakers are entering this six-game trip at No. 9 in the Western Conference standings with a 39-32 record, the first time they've been at least seven games over .500 since the end of the 2020-21 season.
“We know where we are right now,” James said. “Just continue trying to play some good basketball. That's a very testy road trip for us.
“It's very rare, I can't remember in my career where I've had such a late East Coast road trip or vice versa when I was in the East to go to the West so late in the season, so that's challenging. But we're looking forward to it.”
The Lakers enter the trip, which continues on Wednesday against the Memphis Grizzlies, winners in 15 of their last 22 games, including their last three.
Their recent success has kept them from falling below No. 10 in the standings, with the 10-seeded Golden State Warriors and 11-seeded Houston Rockets entering Monday 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 games behind the Lakers, respectively.
But the Lakers also haven't been able to make a jump in the standings either, staying 2 1/2 games behind the Sacramento Kings and Dallas Mavericks, who entered Monday tied for the Nos. 7 and 8 seeds.
“A little,” Anthony Davis responded when asked how much he watches the standings. “I mean, it's everywhere right now. But for us, just try to control what we can control and that's winning one game at a time.
“Obviously we try to figure out how far we are behind the sixth seed, but you stress yourself out putting too much pressure on yourself when you are constantly looking at it. But we're ninth right now, so we just got to continue to play our style of basketball and focus on us and taking it one game at a time and worrying about winning that game. And if we continuously do that, then the rest will take care of itself.”