Is LeBron James Playing vs Kings? Lakers Injury Report Decided

Ricardo Sandoval | 17 Hours Ago

Dec 25, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) during the second quarter against the Golden State Warriors at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

The Los Angeles Lakers will take on the Sacramento Kings, who made arguably the biggest move in the NBA thus far this season.

The Kings fired their head coach, Mike Brown, on Friday after a horrible start to the season. Their game on Saturday in Los Angeles will be their first without Brown at the helm.

The Lakers will look to take advantage of the Kings in this state; however, they will be without their superstar forward, LeBron James.

James was listed as questionable due to illness. He was absent from Friday's practice and is missing his third game since Dec. 8.

LeBron James will miss Saturday’s game against SAC with an illness, sources told ESPN. It will be his third missed game of the season. The illness kept James out of Friday’s practice, too.

— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) December 29, 2024

Since then, the future Hall of Famer has appeared in five consecutive outings, during which he has averaged 25.6 points, 8.4 assists, 7.2 rebounds, and 1.4 steals across 34.8 minutes per contest. If James is sidelined, Cam Reddish, Dalton Knecht, and Armel Traore are candidates for an uptick in playing time.

James is coming off one of his best outings of the season thus far on Christmas Day against the Golden State Warriors. James recorded a team-high 31 points on 12-for-22 shooting from the field, 10 assists, four rebounds, one block, and two steals in 37 minutes of action.

The Lakers needed every single one of those points, as they were without Anthony Davis for most of Wednesday's contest. Since then, the Lakers have received two days off and should be fresh and rejuvenated against the Kings, who will be with interim head coach Doug Christie.

James has had his ups and downs this season, but he has been as solid as they come and, at times, looks like a top-10 player. He is averaging 23.5 points per game, 7.9 rebounds, 9.0 assists (which ranks fourth in the league), and shooting 49 percent from the field and 35 percent from three in 28 games and 35 minutes.

The Lakers, who are 17-13 through the first 30 games of the season, will take on the 13-18 Kings, who are 12th in the Western Conference. The Lakers are 5-2 against division opponents. Los Angeles allows 113.8 points and has been outscored by 2.5 points per game.

The Kings are looking to break a five-game skid and are 2-5 against Pacific Divison opponents.

The Lakers have been averaging 106.0 points, 43.2 rebounds, 24.9 assists, 9.1 steals, and 5.9 blocks in their last 10 games and hold a 5-5 record.

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