The Lakers know that LeBron James won’t be able to play for at least a week, and probably longer, due to a groin strain. How will they survive the upcoming stretch of games without him?
“I think we just have to continue to play hard and play defense,” coach JJ Redick said, per Jovan Buha of The Athletic.
The Lakers have been the No. 1 ranked defense in the league since mid-January. They’re confident they can collects wins despite the future Hall of Famer’s absence.
“We’ve had many situations where a player deals with some type of injury or a trade or whatever it is, and we’ve done a really good job of bouncing back,” guard Austin Reaves said. “And I don’t expect anything else. It’s a next-man-up mentality. Not one person’s gonna do what LeBron does for us. But you can do it as a collective. And … hopefully, he gets back out on the court soon.”
As Buha notes, they have a rugged stretch of games upcoming. The Lakers finish their road trip in Brooklyn on Monday, and then play Milwaukee on Thursday and Denver on Friday. They also have home back-to-backs against Phoenix and San Antonio, as well as Denver and Milwaukee, in the next two weeks.
We have more on the Lakers:
- James believes that being at full strength for the postseason supersedes anything else at this point, Buha relays. “We can compete versus anyone in this league,” James said. “So, we’ll be fine. We got to continue to build our habits. … We made an acquisition late in the season, and we’re still trying to build. And we want to get full. That’s the No. 1 objective for us: How we can get full and get all our guys together and see exactly what we look like.”
- James and Rui Hachimura (knee) are among the players listed as out for the matchup with the Nets, Khobi Price of the Orange County Register tweets. Luka Doncic (back soreness) and Jaxson Hayes (right knee contusion} are listed as questionable.
- Hachimura, who has missed five consecutive games, is making progress from the patellar tendinopathy affecting his left knee. Get the details here.