LeBron James is missing his seventh straight game tonight against the Milwaukee Bucks since suffering a groin injury on March 8 against the Boston Celtics. While the Los Angeles Lakers have gone 3-3 in James' absence, they'll be hoping the star forward returns to the court soon to give them genuine hopes for a title push alongside Luka Doncic.
While James is still ruled out without a clear return date, it could be any day now. This was reinforced when James was seen working out before the shootaround between Lakers and Bucks. The 40-year-old's groin looked healthy as he sprinted from one end of the court to the next and repeatedly dunked the ball.
James' current status might not be worded in an official language, but Lakers head coach JJ Redick did say he was 'hopeful' both LeBron and fellow injured forward Rui Hachimura are ready to return for their Saturday night game.
The Lakers are playing their sixth game in eight days tonight, resting almost every primary rotational player for the game against the Bucks. It genuinely might be a loss they're okay with going through if James and Hachimura are expected to return in their next game and make a concerted postseason push with 13 games left in the season.
James is averaging 25.0 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 8.5 assists this season. He's been among the best players in the NBA when healthy since the team acquired Luka Doncic.
Now that Doncic seems to have found more of a rhythm on the court as well, this duo might be the most unstoppable one in the Playoffs. Sometimes, that can be enough to help a team make a big run.
This time without LeBron has also been beneficial for the team as a whole. After they lost three straight games when LeBron was ruled out, everyone started wondering if the team was overreliant on the 40-year-old forward. However, they broke that trend with three straight wins to follow those losses and level out at .500.
Beating the Bucks without most of their core players will be an impossible task, but this might be the time for the Lakers to officially enter Playoff mode. With LeBron healthy and about to return, a championship will be the only goal in Los Angeles.
