LOS ANGELES — LeBron James’ two-game outage has now turned into a stretch.
And the 41-year-old star, who hadn’t missed consecutive games since his season-opening 18-game stretch while dealing with sciatica, will be listed as day to day until he’s ready to return for game action, Lakers coach JJ Redick said before Tuesday night’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
“He did his on-court shooting before our film and walkthrough and probably just needs a couple more days,” Redick said of James, whose left elbow is OK [after he took a hard fall in Denver last week](https://www.ocregister.com/2026/03/05/lebron-gets-his-record-but-lakers-cant-catch-short-handed-nuggets/), but is nursing a right hip contusion that is bothering him along with lingering left foot arthritis. “So, it’s still day to day. Sometimes day to day means two days, sometimes it can mean five or six days. But he’s day to day.”
Redick was clear: Of course the Lakers want James in the lineup, but with six games in eight days along with the pair of back-to-back sets a week ago, he admitted that the Lakers weren’t sure how James’ body would respond.
“It’s not to say that I expected him to miss a game, but it wouldn’t have surprised me if he needed a day or two to get his body right,” Redick said. “The fact that he had the falls in Denver. He’s trying to ramp up. He wants to be out there, and so do we, and hopefully he’s back soon.”
When the Lakers don’t have James available, they’re fortunate that, coincidence or not, they play better (by win-loss record) when only Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves are available.
Team-wide, when James isn’t on the court, the Lakers are 13-7. When it’s just Doncic and Reaves, the Lakers are 9-2 – a record that corresponds with their 3.8 plus-minus when playing together.
Only until recent weeks had the trio of Lakers stars turned into a positive – points differential-wise – when on the court together, but going into Tuesday, they were at -0.1 in the plus-minus. Swap James for guard Marcus Smart, and the Lakers post a 5.9 in plus-minus together, the highest of any of their trios that have played in 20-plus games together this season.
Redick said he’s confident the Lakers can make it work; getting James, Doncic and Reaves to produce concurrently.
Regardless, the available games to test drive James with his star teammates – they will have played in just 16 games together with 17 remaining come Wednesday morning – are fewer by the day.
“There’s a clear pecking order when LeBron or when Luka and AR are on the floor together with guys that are low-usage players,” Redick said. “That’s the nature of it. That’s the nature of nearly every Big Three that’s ever existed. We’re going to get there. We’ve seen some positive signs and I know LeBron, he recognizes the importance of having Luka as the engine.”
#### DONCIC FINED $50,000
The NBA fined Doncic on Thursday morning after the Slovenian Star made a money gesture, rubbing his fingers together, after having been called for a blocking foul [during the third quarter of the Lakers’ victory over the New York Knicks on Sunday](https://www.ocregister.com/2026/03/08/lebron-less-lakers-hold-off-cold-shooting-knicks/).
In the press release about Doncic’s fine, the league called the 27-year-old’s actions an “inappropriate and unprofessional gesture toward a game official.” Doncic also has 15 technical fouls, and while the gesture was not called for a ‘T’ during live action, his 16th technical will lead to a one-game suspension.