AGL 38.54 Increased By ▲ 0.97 (2.58%)
AIRLINK 129.50 Decreased By ▼ -3.00 (-2.26%)
BOP 5.61 Decreased By ▼ -0.03 (-0.53%)
CNERGY 3.86 Increased By ▲ 0.09 (2.39%)
DCL 8.73 Decreased By ▼ -0.14 (-1.58%)
DFML 41.76 Increased By ▲ 0.76 (1.85%)
DGKC 88.30 Decreased By ▼ -1.86 (-2.06%)
FCCL 35.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.08 (-0.23%)
FFBL 67.35 Increased By ▲ 0.85 (1.28%)
FFL 10.61 Increased By ▲ 0.46 (4.53%)
HUBC 108.76 Increased By ▲ 2.36 (2.22%)
HUMNL 14.66 Increased By ▲ 1.26 (9.4%)
KEL 4.75 Decreased By ▼ -0.11 (-2.26%)
KOSM 6.95 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (1.46%)
MLCF 41.65 Decreased By ▼ -0.15 (-0.36%)
NBP 59.60 Increased By ▲ 1.02 (1.74%)
OGDC 183.00 Increased By ▲ 1.75 (0.97%)
PAEL 26.25 Increased By ▲ 0.55 (2.14%)
PIBTL 5.97 Increased By ▲ 0.14 (2.4%)
PPL 146.70 Decreased By ▼ -1.70 (-1.15%)
PRL 23.61 Increased By ▲ 0.39 (1.68%)
PTC 16.56 Increased By ▲ 1.32 (8.66%)
SEARL 68.30 Decreased By ▼ -0.49 (-0.71%)
TELE 7.23 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.14%)
TOMCL 35.95 Decreased By ▼ -0.05 (-0.14%)
TPLP 7.85 Increased By ▲ 0.45 (6.08%)
TREET 14.20 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.28%)
TRG 50.45 Decreased By ▼ -0.40 (-0.79%)
UNITY 26.75 Increased By ▲ 0.35 (1.33%)
WTL 1.21 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
BR100 9,806 Increased By 37.8 (0.39%)
BR30 29,678 Increased By 278.1 (0.95%)
KSE100 92,304 Increased By 366.3 (0.4%)
KSE30 28,840 Increased By 96.6 (0.34%)
Sports

Lakers aim to have LeBron healthy for playoffs

  • But Vogel said the Lakers wouldn't rush the four-time NBA Most Valuable Player.
Published May 6, 2021

LOS ANGELES: LeBron James will miss the Los Angeles Lakers' crosstown duel with the Clippers on Thursday as the reigning NBA champions aim to get their superstar healthy for the playoffs.

"He's out for the Clippers. He'll be day-to-day after that," Lakers coach Frank Vogel told reporters on Wednesday, two days after James sat out the Lakers' win over the Denver Nuggets because of soreness in his injured right ankle in his two-game return.

James missed 20 games with a high right ankle sprain.

When he returned against the Sacramento Kings last week the Lakers hoped to have him back for the last 10 games of the regular season.

But plans changed after he departed the Lakers' loss to the Toronto Raptors on Sunday midway through the fourth quarter, later saying he had experienced some pain.

"It's not an ideal situation," Vogel acknowledged. "Ideally, he's 100% and has 10 games to get his legs and rhythm and timing under him.

"We're not going to have that situation. So we're going to make the best of it."

The Lakers are sixth in the Western Conference with a one-game lead over the Portland Trail Blazers. The seventh through 10th placed teams will have to compete in the NBA's play-in tournament to reach the playoffs proper.

But Vogel said the Lakers wouldn't rush the four-time NBA Most Valuable Player.

"We want him back as soon as possible. But we want him back as healthy as possible," Vogel said. "That's the number one goal. Wherever we end up in the standings, we want him as healthy as possible going into the playoffs.

"Other than that, we're just going to compete and try to win as many games down the stretch here."

The Lakers are 9-13 without James this season. His brief return proved no panacea as they lost both games he played before beating Denver without him.

Comments

Comments are closed.