The Los Angeles Lakers are back in action on Thursday and Friday night and you can watch both games on Sky Sports - coverage of their clash with city rivals the Clippers begins at 3am on Friday morning.
Wednesday 5 May 2021 07:44, UK
LeBron James is expected to miss back-to-back games against the LA Clippers and Portland Trail Blazers this week as he rests his injured right ankle, according to ESPN Insider Adrian Wojnarowski.
After missing 20 games because of the injury, James returned to play in the Lakers' loss to Sacramento on Friday and their loss to Toronto on Sunday. He had 16 points, eight rebounds and seven assists against the Kings; and added 19 points, seven rebounds and six assists against the Raptors.
However he didn't play the last 6 minutes, 42 seconds of the Raptors game, and then sat out Los Angeles' win over Denver on Monday.
It has also been reported by The Athletic that Dennis Schroder could miss 10-14 days due to health and safety protocols - a two week absence would rule him out of the remainder of the Lakers games this season as they battle to secure a spot in the top six of the Western Conference.
This season, the four-time NBA MVP is averaging 25.0 points, 7.9 rebounds and 7.8 assists per game and ESPN added that James could miss more games in order to be better prepared for the postseason.
The Lakers, who have seven games left in the regular season, have slid to sixth in the standings just one game ahead of Portland who they face on Friday night which comes 24 hours after a meeting with city rivals the Clippers in a huge week.
The Lakers have won just nine of their last 24 matches, and have failed to win back-to-back games since late March and they run the risk of sliding into the play-in competition which has been slammed by James.
The top six teams in the Western Conference qualify for the playoffs without having to compete in the play-in tournament which will be contested between the teams seeded seventh through 10th.
