Lakers News: LeBron To Miss Several Games, Rondo, McGee Out Against Kings

The Los Angeles Lakers took to court Thursday night against the Sacramento Kings without any of their summer recruits, including LeBron James who is out with a groin strain that he sustained during their win over the Golden State Warriors on Christmas Day.

The three-time NBA champion suffered the injury in the third quarter, and scans later revealed the injury was much better than first feared. The Lakers listed James as “day-to-day” and the player himself was glad to have dodged a bullet as it could have been much worse.

However, according to ESPN, the injury was not a straightforward one and would require a healing process. It was claimed the Lakers were preparing for James to miss several games owing to the significant strain he suffered.

The Los Angeles franchise were unable to put a timeline on the small forward’s return as he had never before suffered a groin injury. It was new territory for the player and the team were unsure how he would respond to treatment in the coming days.

The Lakers would want James back as soon as possible, but were wary of rushing him back as a groin injury could cause further complications if not allowed to heal properly. Stephen Curry suffered a similar injury earlier in the season – probably a bit more severe – which saw him miss 11 games for the Warriors.

James, however, was not the only injury concern for coach Luke Walton as he would also be without veteran point guard Rajon Rondo, who suffered a grade 3 injury to his left ring finger after putting in one of his best performances of the season against the Warriors on Christmas Day.

The former Boston Celtics guard was also likely to miss more than one game – with the team expected to give a detailed update Friday, following their game against the Kings. Walton confirmed ahead of the game that JaVale McGee would also be not playing Thursday, which would see Ivica Zubac retain his place in the starting lineup.

According to Lakers beat reporter Mike Trudell, Josh Hart was expected to start in place of James on Thursday night, which would see all Lakers draft picks starting lineup with an average age of under 24 years.

“Luke Walton said Josh Hart would most likely start in LeBron’s place tonight, so that means we could see the all Lakers draft picks starting line up from Summer League two years ago: Ball, Ingram, Hart, Kuzma and Zubac. That’s 3 21-year-olds and 2 23-year-olds,” Trudell wrote.