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Lakers Injury Report: LeBron James Ruled Out For Crucial Wolves Matchup

Matt Levine

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Ahead of their matchup with the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Los Angeles Lakers have ruled star forward LeBron James out. The veteran has been dealing with a nagging foot injury and was likely to miss this game.

James missed the Lakers last game due to injury and will now miss his second consecutive game. There was hope that James wouldn't have to miss any time this season but that has quickly gone out the door.

With him being almost 40 years old, the Lakers are being extra cautious moving forward. The team needs him to be as close to full strength as possible when the playoffs come around.

Lakers head coach JJ Redick revealed that James was "gassed" and that the team would be better at monitoring his minutes moving forward. Redick understands how important James is to the success of Los Angeles so making sure he is taken care of is paramount.

"In game, he's asked for a sub a couple times because he's gassed," Redick said Wednesday. "For us, we have to be cognizant as we play more and more games, just the cumulative effect of playing a lot of minutes, and Sunday, being banged up with the foot thing, it felt like a good opportunity for him to get some rest."

Los Angeles has come back down to earth after a great start to the season. Currently, the Lakers hold a record of 13-11 but they have lost seven of their last 10 contests.

Inconsistent play has factored into everything, with Redick saying that the team has been looking internally on how to fix things. The first-time head coach called it "internally auditing" to figure out how to get everything back on track.

“We’ve already started doing some internal auditing,” coach JJ Redick said after the Lakers’ 107-98 win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday. “Some comparisons between the first 14 games, really offensively the first 15 games, and what we’ve done the (next 10 games). Just trying to figure out what works, what doesn’t. … It’s a good opportunity for everybody.”

The Lakers will have a tough task in facing Minnesota on the road without James. But this team has faith and believes that they can compete with anyone around the NBA.

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Matt Levine
MATT LEVINE

Matt earned a Master of Science degree in Sport Management from Louisiana State University in 2021. He was born and raised in the Los Angeles area, covering all Southern California sports in his career.

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