LeBron James will miss his second straight game after being excused from the team earlier in the week for “personal reasons”.
The 39-year-old Los Angeles Lakers star missed the team’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday, Dec. 8, with a left leg injury — the first game James has missed this season.
At the team’s practice on Wednesday, December 11, the head coach of the Lakers JJ Reddick explained James’s conspicuous absence.
“LeBron is not with the team right now,” Redick, 40, told reporters. “He’s out for personal reasons, excused absence.”
Shaquille O’Neal’s son Sharif, Serena Williams’ daughter Olympia, and more kids are proving to be just as athletic as their parents. The son of the retired pro basketball player transferred to Louisiana State University from UCLA in 2020. He chose the university because people there “didn’t really talk about” his father, he (…)
Redick said James is “taking some time” away from the team as the four-time MVP tries to get his body right for the remainder of his 22nd NBA season.
On Thursday, December 12, the Lakers announced that James would not play in the team’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday, December 13. The powerful forward has been officially declared with “pain in his left leg”.
Sources ESPN said that James did not accompany the Lakers on their flight to Minnesota.
The Lakers are scheduled to return to action on Sunday, December 15 at home against the Memphis Grizzlies. James’ status for this game has not yet been announced.
First-year Lakers coach Redick told reporters on Wednesday that James has been really tired lately. He last played in the Lakers’ overtime loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Friday, December 6.
“In the game, he called for a sub a couple of times because he was gassed,” Reddick said. “For us, we have to be aware as we play more and more games, it’s just the cumulative effect of playing a lot of minutes and Sunday when he was kicked, it seemed like a good opportunity for him to get some rest.”
Things have not been smooth sailing for LeBron or the Lakers over the past month. Heading into Friday’s game against the Timberwolves, the team had lost seven of its last 10 games.
James, who will turn 40 on Dec. 30, is averaging 23 points, 9.1 assists and 8.0 rebounds on the season.
After the Lakers’ loss to the Hawks, James talked about how injuries to the team’s depth players made things difficult.
“Inconsistency with lineups, we’re trying to find ways, obviously,” he said. “So it’s very challenging. We don’t have much room for error. … These are big, big, big, big pieces.”
James added: “I don’t know what’s going to get us over the hump. We just have to not drown. Don’t drown and we’ll be fine.”
