On Sunday night, the Los Angeles Lakers were finally able to snap their losing streak, getting a win over the visiting Portland Trail Blazers, even though the team didn’t have stars LeBron James or Austin Reaves available to play.
The matchup against the Blazers was the first game that James has missed this season, as he is nursing a sore left foot, which changed his status from probable to doubtful to out in a matter of hours leading up to tipoff at Crypto.com Arena.
With James and Reaves on the mend, the shorthanded Lakers were able to turn to D’Angelo Russell and Rui Hachimura to step up their game on Sunday night in Los Angeles.
Although the Lakers got the win against the Blazers, Portland isn’t exactly a formidable opponent at this point in time, which led to Bobby Marks claiming that this team can’t sustain this level of minutes played by James because the team isn’t good enough via NBA on ESPN.
“If you are going to play him 30 minutes a night, I don’t think this team is good enough to sustain it,” Marks said.
"I don't think this team is good enough to sustain it."@BobbyMarks42 on the Lakers decreasing LeBron's minutes each game. pic.twitter.com/IcLAKkZrg6
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) December 9, 2024
Outside of the overtime loss to the Atlanta Hawks, where James had a 39-point triple-double on the road, the future Hall of Famer has struggled as of late and might be finding it tough to play through his normal workload as he approaches 40 years old later this month.
It’ll be interesting to see if new head coach JJ Redick can figure out some kind of balance moving forward and whether the Lakers can remain in the playoff picture in the Western Conference as a result.
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