It wasn’t a welcome sight for the Lakers, but at the very least, their team was together.
LeBron James sat on the bench wearing a walking boot and black hooded sweatshirt, not able to play but able to talk. While the Lakers will sorely miss his voice on the floor — along with his scoring, play-making, rebounding and, well, everything else he does — his presence suggested a sense of solidarity.
James, 36, hasn’t always traveled with the team when injured for a road game. He stayed home when he sat out against Sacramento, and he also missed trips during the 2018-19 season after tearing his groin. But after suffering a high ankle sprain on Saturday afternoon, James and the medical team made the split decision for James to join the group.
Still, coach Frank Vogel suggested that won’t always be the case during his “indefinite” absence.
“I think those decisions will be made in the coming timeframe that he’s gonna be out,” Vogel said. “Obviously there’s always benefits with him being around but I do think with him gonna be out for a while that there’s value in him taking a mental break.”
There’s no such break for the Lakers, who face an increasingly difficult stretch without injured starters who don’t seem likely to swoop in soon. High ankle sprains generally take several weeks to heal, but the Lakers have yet to publicly state a timeline for James’ return — Vogel acknowledged, “those things are slow recoveries.”
Aside from James, the Lakers are expected to re-evaluate Anthony Davis toward the end of the week, but it’s possible that the 28-year-old forward misses more games. Marc Gasol is out of the league’s COVID-19 protocols, but missed his second straight game since emerging. The Lakers have not acknowledged if Gasol tested for positive during an 18-day protocol period.
“He’s cleared from protocols but he was pretty wiped out from a conditioning standpoint so he’s not ready to play in games yet,” Vogel said. “We’re going to take it day-to-day with him but it’s likely he’s still going to miss a couple more games.”
If the Lakers don’t catch any breaks with their missing starters, they have two roster spots available to add players after Damian Jones’ second 10-day contract expired on Saturday. With limited space under the hard salary cap, the Lakers will be hard-pressed to make a trade, but are expected to be aggressive in the buyout market once the trade deadline passes on Thursday.
Vogel said he hadn’t “had any of those conversations” about how the injuries might affect the Lakers’ roster moves, but acknowledged that it will factor in.
“Obviously when you have two key guys that are gonna be out you look at the trade market differently and obviously the buyout market differently,” he said. “So those are conversations that will be had in the coming days.”
While the Lakers didn’t retain Jones, there could be another opportunity for the center down the road after he filled in admirably in the middle (including a 4-1 record as a starter). He averaged 5.4 points and nearly a block per game in eight appearances, helping the team add a vertical threat and a rim protector.
If the Lakers don’t find the right candidate on the buyout market, the third stint might be the charm for Jones.
“There’s a window of time here where we’re approaching the trade deadline and the buyout market and we’re just gonna maintain our flexibility ahead of this stretch to see what’s ahead of us,” Vogel said. “But DJ did a good job for us and the door’s not closed.”
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