The Los Angeles Lakers will continue to be without leading-scorer LeBron James for at least another three weeks while he recovers from a foot injury, the team announced Thursday.
James suffered a right foot tendon injury last week during the team’s comeback win against the Dallas Mavericks at the Crypto.com Arena.
Earlier this week, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that James would be reevaluated in two weeks, but that timeline has officially shifted, according to the team. James’ injury, however, is not believed to require surgery, according to Bleacher Report’s Chris Haynes.
The injury came just days after the Lakers completely retooled their roster for a late playoff push behind the league’s all-time leading scorer.
In one of the most high-profile trade deadlines in recent years, the Lakers traded a first-round pick and point guard Russell Westbrook to the Utah Jazz in exchange for Jarred Vanderbilt and Malik Beasley as well as D’Angelo Russell from the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Lakers remained active through the deadline, acquiring center Mo Bamba, guard Davon Reed and a second round pick in a four-team trade involving the Orlando Magic, the Denver Nuggets and the cross-arena rival L.A. Clippers. That deal included former Lakers Patrick Beverley and Thomas Bryant.
The Lakers have gone 5-2 since the roster shakeup, including a 1-1 record without James.
If James were to return around the three-week estimate as the team hopes, that would leave fewer than 10 games remaining on the Lakers’ schedule.
The Lakers are currently three games under .500 and in 11th place in the NBA’s Western Conference, meaning the team is just shy of reaching the play-in tournament for a chance to claim a spot in the playoffs and a far cry from securing a playoff spot outright.
If LeBron hopes to make it to the playoffs for his 20th season, he will need big contributions by the newly acquired Lakers teammates, as well as costar Anthony Davis. But both Davis and D’Angelo Russell missed Wednesday’s win against the Oklahoma City Thunder as they recover from their own nagging injuries.
The Lakers have 19 games remaining in the 2022-23 season to make up ground on the 10 teams above them in the Western Conference standings.