LeBron James Ready For 'Unfortunate' Change As Lakers' Playoff Race Begins

The Los Angeles Lakers are facing the prospect of not making the playoffs for the sixth season in succession as they sit in 10th place in the Western Conference. They are three games out of the playoff picture with a 28-19 record and 25 regular season games left to play.

According to ESPN Stats and Info, Luke Walton’s team also have the fourth toughest remaining schedule in the NBA, which will not bode well for their chances of making the post-season. All eyes will be on LeBron James, as his form will be key to the Lakers progressing to the next phase of the campaign.

It is an unfamiliar situation for the three-time NBA champion, who has made eight straight NBA Finals and 13 consecutive playoffs. The last time James failed to make the post-season was during the 2004-05 campaign when the Cleveland Cavaliers dropped from third at the All-Star break to fail to make the playoffs via a tiebreaker.

In December it looked almost certain that the Lakers will make their first post-season appearance in five years with Walton’s team sitting in fourth place having just come away with a victory over reigning champions Golden State Warriors.

But the cost of victory over the Warriors was a hefty one as James suffered a groin injury, which would see him miss 18 games. And during his absence, the Lakers went from fourth to ninth and have since dropped to 10th.

James admitted after Wednesday’s practice session that his post-season mode has been activated as the team looks to push their way into contention before the end of the regular season. He admits that it is an unexpected change – as he is not used to “activating” this mode so early in the season.

“It's been activated," James said after practice Wednesday ahead of their game against the Houston Rockets, as quoted on ESPN.

"Obviously, we would have loved to have success when I was out, but we didn't, so this is where we [are] right now," the 15-time NBA All-Star added talking about his injury absence. "I'm going to be a little bit different a little bit earlier than I would like to be in previous years. My level of intensity has to be [high], unfortunately for me, because I don't like to do it at such an early time.”

The ongoing post-season drought is the longest in franchise history and James has made it clear that their goal since the start of the season has been to make the playoffs and they are not going to give up until it is mathematically not possible to qualify.

"That's the job, that's our goal," James said. "It's been our goal from the beginning of the season, and it's still our goal. We're working our tails off to get there."

The Lakers star also welcomed the uncomfortable feeling of fighting for a playoff place by claiming that he loves such situations as it brings out the best in him, he added: "I'm all about being uncomfortable. I love being uncomfortable. I fall in love with being uncomfortable. This is another uncomfortable thing for me, and I love it."