Lakers Announce Major LeBron James News Before Warriors Game

Veteran forward LeBron James will return to the Los Angeles Lakers lineup for Thursday night’s clash against the Golden State Warriors.

The NBA’s all-time leading scorer sat out Tuesday’s 123-87 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder due to left foot injury management. His return will mean the Lakers may not have to depend as much on the likes of Jarred Vanderbilt, Drew Timme and Maxi Kleber, all of whom played significant minutes against the Thunder.

With the Lakers taking James off the injury report, it also means Thursday’s game will mark just the first instance of “The King” squaring off against longtime rival Stephen Curry, as highlighted by ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.

“With LeBron James missing opening night with sciatica and Steph Curry missing both Lakers-Warriors games in February because of his right knee, tonight will be the first time the two face one another all season,” McMenamin wrote on X.

“LeBron holds a 14-13 edge in regular season; Steph is up 17-12 in postseason.”

Lakers Urged to Rest Lebron

Since the Lakers are essentially locked into a 4 vs. 5 playoff matchup with the Houston Rockets, some have urged the franchise to rest the 41-year-old LeBron James for the final three regular-season games, allowing him to be fresh for a playoff run, especially amid the uncertainty surrounding Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves.

ESPN’s “Hoop Collective” podcast on Wednesday called on the Lakers to sit out James for the final three games of the regular season — even if it means losing home-court advantage against the Rockets in the playoffs.

“If it was me, I’d put LeBron in bubble wrap until the end of the week,” ESPN’s Tim Bontemps said.

“I wouldn’t play him again and give him as much time as possible to be ready for a first-round playoff series against Houston.

“… Let’s just assume Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves aren’t available, the plan of attack is simple: give the ball to LeBron and spread the floor with shooting.”

Lakers Set for Playoffs

“They’re gonna try to keep homecourt — they have the tiebreaker edge on Houston — but they also gotta prioritize LeBron’s health,” Brian Windhorst said.

“He’s played a lot of minutes in the last week.”

Lakers head coach JJ Redick is hoping to use the final three regular-season games to figure out his rotations, amid the injuries to Doncic and Reaves.

“You obviously have to tackle the situation in front of you, that we have — a unique situation in front of us,” Redick said of the Lakers injury issues, via ESPN.

“And we’ve got to prepare our team, our group that we’re going to have available to play in the playoffs series. … How we approach next week leading into Game 1, it’s finding who’s going to be able to play in the playoffs for us. … The seeding part probably went out the window after the OKC game.”

After Thursday’s game against the Warriors, the Lakers will wrap up their regular season with games against the Suns on Friday and the Jazz on Sunday.

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