While the Lakers are on a five-game road trip without him, LeBron James will work out with the Lakers’ G League team and is expected to be near a return when the Lakers return home in a week.
LeBron has been out since before the start of training camp due to sciatica on his right side. He wasrecently cleared for contact with a re-evaluation expected later this week or early next week. Part of the recovery process involves getting him back into playing, though 5-on-5 scrimmages. Before his team’s win over Charlotte on Monday, coach J.J. Redick said LeBron was “practicing with South Bay” (Redick stated it was happening on Monday, but the Lakers’ staff clarified it would take place at some point this week).
The Lakers’ next home game is on Nov. 18 against the Utah Jazz. His taking the court then would fit with the long-planned return for LeBron in mid-November. Lakers players aren’t concerned about James fitting in upon his return, whenever that may be.
“The thing about him is he understands the game, as everybody knows,” Austin Reaves told the Associated Press. “Knowing him, he’s been watching these first, what is that 11 games and, analyzing the game in a sense of where he knows when he comes back, ‘This is how I can help the team.’”
The Lakers are off to a fast 8-3 start without LeBron behind a top-10 offense sparked by Luka Doncic playing at an MVP level. Reaves has stepped up as a high-level secondary scoring option, while Deandre Ayton has shown to be solid most games and the kind of two-way big man the Lakers have needed with Doncic. These Lakers will get a measuring stick game on Wednesday against the defending champion Thunder (who remain without their second-best player, Jalen Williams, who is nearing a return from wrist surgery).
Not long after, it appears the Lakers will add LeBron James back into the mix. With his return, LeBron will add another record to his already historic resume, becoming the first player to reach his 23rd NBA season.