LeBron James Injury Updates: Will Lakers Make It To Playoffs?

The Los Angeles Lakers are without a doubt one of the NBA’s underachieving teams. It’s difficult to write that, especially after they won the NBA Championship in October of 2022, just over two years ago. James’s injury is making it impossible!

The Lakers have been an NBA team that has been a veritable rollercoaster of emotions during the LeBron James era. In the summer of 2018, James joined the Lakers and immediately elevated the team’s chances of winning a title. Expectations were sky high, but LeBron’s first season with the purple and gold was, to put it mildly, a letdown.

LeBron James Injury Updates: Will He Make It To Playoffs?

The Los Angeles Lakers and the Dallas Mavericks will square off against one other on Sunday in Texas.

LeBron James is labelled as probable for the contest despite having a foot ailment on the injury report (four-time NBA Champion). This suggests that he will most likely start the game.

James is in the middle of his 20th season in the NBA and turned 38 in December.

That said, he is still among the ten best players in the league and comes into the day with averages of 29.6 points, 8.4 rebounds and 7.0 assists per contest in 46 games (while shooting 50.3% from the field). This is his fifth season playing for the Lakers, and it’s been an up-and-down tenure.

In 2018 and 2022, they missed the postseason, but in 2020 the Lakers won the NBA Championship over the Miami Heat (they lost in the first round of the 2021 NBA Playoffs).

Right now, the Lakers are the 13th seed in the Western Conference with a 28-32 record in 60 games. They are only 1.5 games out of the tenth seed, which is the final play-in tournament spot.

Over the last ten games, the Lakers are 5-5, and they are in the middle of a two-game winning streak.

Will the Lakers miss the 2023 NBA Playoffs?

As of Feb. 26, the Lakers have a 40 per cent chance of making the 2023 NBA Playoffs, according to FiveThirtyEight’s projections.

Basketball Reference’s playoff probabilities report isn’t nearly as confident in Los Angeles’ chances, giving James and his teammates a 10.2 per cent chance to reach the playoffs.

Neither model views the Lakers as a serious threat to winning the NBA championship.

Lakers remaining schedule

Some good news for Lakers fans: Los Angeles has the ninth-easiest remaining schedule strength in the league, per Tankathon.

The Lakers will play 12 of their final 22 games at Crypto.com Arena, including separate five-game homestands in early and late March.

Date Opponent Time (ET)
Feb. 26 at Mavericks 3:30 p.m.
Feb. 28 at Grizzlies 7:30 p.m.
March 1 at Thunder 8 p.m.
March 3 vs. Timberwolves 10:30 p.m.
March 5 vs. Warriors 3:30 p.m.
March 7 vs. Grizzlies 10 p.m.
March 10 vs. Raptors 10:30 p.m.
March 12 vs. Knicks 9 p.m.
March 14 at Pelicans 8 p.m.
March 15 at Rockets 8 p.m.
March 17 vs. Mavericks 10:30 p.m.
March 19 vs. Magic 9:30 p.m.
March 22 vs. Suns 10 p.m.
March 24 vs. Thunder 10:30 p.m.
March 26 vs. Bulls 3:30 p.m.
March 29 at Bulls 8 p.m.
March 31 at Timberwolves 8 p.m.
April 2 at Rockets 7 p.m.
April 4 at Jazz 9 p.m.
April 5 at Clippers 10 p.m.
April 7 vs. Suns 10:30 p.m.
April 9 vs. Jazz 3:30 p.m.

NBA standings 2023

Western Conference

Seed Team Record Games Back
1. Nuggets 42-19 —
2. Grizzlies 36-23 5
3. Kings 34-25 7
4. Suns 33-28 9
5. Clippers 33-29 9.5
6. Mavericks 32-29 10
7. Timberwolves 31-31 11.5
8. Jazz 31-31 11.5
9. Warriors 30-30 11.5
10. Pelicans 30-31 12
— Thunder 28-31 13
— Trail Blazers 28-31 13
— Lakers 28-32 13.5
— Spurs 14-47 28
— Rockets 13-46 28

 

 

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