MINNEAPOLIS — While the Lakers don’t have a specific target date for LeBron James to make his season debut, the team is hopeful the star forward will make his return in a few weeks.
Coach JJ Redick said ahead of the Lakers’ road game against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday that the hope is for James, who wasn’t with the team during the trip that ends with Friday’s matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies, to be available to play by the second or third week of November.
James, who turns 41 in December, has been sidelined to start the season because of right side sciatica, with the team announcing on Oct. 9 that he would be reevaluated in about 3-4 weeks – with the three-week mark being Thursday.
“We’re probably somewhere right around that timeline to hopefully get him back in the lineup,” Redick said. “But obviously, this thing has to continue to progress with all of his return-to-play protocols. We don’t have like a target date. It’s just somewhere in that general timeline. We hope that he’s kind of checked all the boxes and is going to be back sometime in that second or third week in November.”
Redick also provided an update on star guard Luka Doncic, who has been sidelined because of a sprained finger on his left (non-shooting) hand and a lower left leg contusion.
The team announced on Oct. 26 that Doncic would be reevaluated in about a week, with Redick saying on Wednesday that Doncic will be back in the lineup within the next couple of games.
After playing the Grizzlies on Friday, the Lakers will host the Miami Heat on Sunday night before playing the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday night to close out a back-to-back set.
“With a contusion, it’s a day-to-day thing,” Redick said. “The swelling has gone down a little bit. His finger, it looks like he has 1½ fingers now, and not two. So he’s progressing. And we’re hopeful at some point in the next little bit, next couple games, we’ll have an opportunity to have him back in the lineup.”
THIEO UPDATE
The Lakers announced that rookie forward Adou Thiero has been cleared for live on-court contact work, with the next progression of his return-to-play process being participating in five-on-five activities.
Thiero will be integrated into team practices over the next week, including with the organization’s G League affiliate, the South Bay Lakers, which Thiero was assigned to on Wednesday.
Thiero, whom the Lakers selected out of Arkansas with the No. 36 in June’s NBA draft after moving up twice to acquire the pick to draft him, had been a modified participant in the Lakers’ practices since training camp started because of the swelling in his knee.
The 6-foot-8, 220-pound Thiero missed most of the latter part of the Razorbacks’ 2024-2025 season after hyperextending his left knee in Arkansas’ victory over Missouri on Feb. 22, and he didn’t play for the Lakers’ summer league team in July.
Redick mentioned after the team’s first practice on Sept. 30 that Thiero had surgery before the team drafted him – which wasn’t previously publicly disclosed.
“We felt like he’s somebody that really fits in the modern NBA because of his motor and how athletic and the size,” Redick said. “View him as a guy that could be a banshee-crasher, a full-court pickup guy, an elite cutter, a physical defender. Every team needs those guys. So excited about his future as a Laker.
“And I told him this, and I’ve said this to you guys: this year is really important for him as a development year, but it’s as much about getting his body right and learning the NBA, the language, and all of that stuff as it is about getting on-court reps. There will be opportunities at some point in the future. I don’t know when that is for him to get some reps with us in-game, but we’re gonna make sure that his body’s right.”
HAYES BACK
Backup center Jaxson Hayes was available on Wednesday after missing the previous three games because of left patellar tendinopathy.
Reserve veteran guard Marcus Smart was sidelined for the second consecutive game because of a right quadriceps contusion.