EL SEGUNDO — After sitting out of Sunday’s NBA All-Star Game because of lingering left foot/ankle soreness, Lakers star LeBron James is listed as questionable for Wednesday night’s home game against the Charlotte Hornets.
“Hopefully, he gets upgraded at some point [on Wednesday] and he’s able to play,” Coach JJ Redick said on Tuesday. “But he’ll be questionable.”
James, 40, was selected to his record-extending 21st All-Star Game but didn’t play in the exhibition for the first time since being named to his first All-Star team in 2005.
“I was hoping that it would feel a lot better [Sunday] morning, but it’s not where I want it to be,” James said Sunday. “With 30 games left and us trying to make a playoff push in the wild, wild West, I feel like it’s important for me to take care of myself and understand what’s coming on.
“I don’t want to say it’s maintenance – well, it is maintenance, but at the same time, I have to look out for myself when it comes to this injury that I’ve been dealing with for years. I hope to be available on Wednesday … hopefully I can play against Charlotte on Wednesday and hopefully play against Portland on Thursday. It’s a big stretch for us.”
Wednesday’s matchup, which is a makeup for a Jan. 9 game that was postponed because of the Southern California wildfires, is the first game of a home-road back-to-back. After hosting the Hornets (13-39), the Lakers (32-20) play the Trail Blazers (23-32) on Thursday in Portland before matching up against the Denver Nuggets (36-19) on Saturday at Ball Arena for their third game in four nights coming out of the All-Star break.
The Lakers have won 12 of their past 15 games but their March schedule is challenging – they face the New York Knicks, Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks (twice) and the Nuggets (twice) during a 14-day span – and a bad stretch of any length could send them tumbling down the standings in a tightly packed Western Conference.
Redick said James went through “most” of Tuesday’s practice, the Lakers’ first since the break ended.
James has consistently been on the injury report because of a left foot ailment since early December.
“It’s something that we’ve managed all year and it was sore over the weekend,” Redick added. “But like it’s been all year, it’s a day-to-day thing, that’s just something we’ve had to manage or continue to manage throughout the rest of the year.”
