LeBron James will miss Tuesday night’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder in Los Angeles as he manages left foot soreness. It is another blow for the Lakers in a rematch with the same team that beat them by 43 points last week.
The absence matters because Los Angeles is still trying to sort out its final stretch with four regular-season games left. James has played in 57 games in his 23rd NBA season, and the Lakers are 50-28, fourth in the West and a half-game behind the Denver Nuggets, though they hold the tiebreaker.
The larger problem has been building for weeks. Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves were both hurt in that loss to Oklahoma City, and the Lakers have been trying to keep pace without two of their most productive scorers. Dončić is out at least through the end of the regular season with a Grade 2 hamstring strain and is reportedly in Europe seeking specialized medical treatment. Reaves, who is averaging 23.3 points, 5.5 assists and 4.7 rebounds, has a Grade 2 oblique strain and is expected to miss four to six weeks.
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James’ own situation has been fragile from the start. He missed the first 14 games of the season with sciatica, and ’s Dave McMenamin reported that the latest issue is soreness in the same left foot that has already forced him out of Tuesday’s game. The 22-time All-Star had been available down the stretch, but the timing of this setback leaves JJ Redick’s team facing three games in four nights without a full lineup.
There is still room for the Lakers to keep climbing, and they have already clinched the Pacific Division title and a playoff spot. But the injury list has turned what should have been a push for seeding into a test of survival, with Dončić’s camp also pursuing an Extraordinary Circumstances Challenge after he finished one game short of the NBA’s 65-game minimum for end-of-season awards, citing the two games he missed for the birth of his second child.
For a team that just lost 134-128 to the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday, Tuesday is less about standings than about how long the Lakers can keep absorbing hits before the schedule catches up with them.
