The Los Angeles Lakers are a team of two superstars: LeBron James and Luka Doncic, an unexpected pairing that came about in the dead of night on a fateful date in February. But lately, it has been Doncic carrying the load, endearing himself to the Lakers‘ legions of fans while James has recovered from a groin injury.
After missing six games due to his injury, James returned to the lineup on Saturday as the Lakers hosted the Chicago Bulls, expecting to defeat a team scratching and clawing for a place in the NBA‘s Play-In Tournament. It didn’t pan out that way, and there are fresh concerns as to the duo’s chemistry and what it means for Los Angeles in the long run.
LeBron admits to “rust” amid blowout loss
The Bulls stormed Crypto.com Arena and left as 146-115 winners, a result that puts the Lakers’ push for the Western Conference‘s second seed in some jeopardy. But James didn’t seem overly concerned when he spoke to reporters after the game, in which the 40-year-old scored 17 points in 31 minutes.
“A little rusty, a little rusty, but I was happy to get back out there,” James said.
James did not confirm whether he was completely healed from the injury, which threatens to linger as Los Angeles (43-27) has 12 games remaining in the regular season. The Lakers are 2.5 games behind the Houston Rockets, and James explained that he — and his teammates — will take matters day by day, in hopes of a better result against the Orlando Magic on Monday night.
“I just take day by day. I can’t worry about what’s gonna happen in the future,” he said. “But I got through today. I’m obviously gonna get some work on it tomorrow. Hopefully, a little bit on the plane. It’s a long flight to Orlando. And then, once we get to Orlando and get ready for Monday. So I hope it’s behind, but I don’t wanna look too far in the future.”