EL SEGUNDO — The Lakers announced on Thursday afternoon that LeBron James will be sidelined for at least 3-4 weeks because of nerve pain, meaning James won’t be available for the start of the 2025-26 season.
The team’s statement, which was released after practice concluded, said that James will be reevaluated in about 3-4 weeks because of sciatica on his right side, and that any further updates will be provided at that time.
The timeline provided by the Lakers means the team is scheduled to play five to nine games before LeBron is expected to be reevaluated, including the Oct. 21 regular-season opener against the Golden State Warriors at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
It’ll be the first season-opener of his career that James will be sidelined for, with the 40-year-old star forward entering an unprecedented 23rd NBA season.
He has already played the most combined regular-season and playoffs career minutes in league history (71,103), and is 49 games behind Robert Parish (1,611) for the most regular-season games played in league history. James already holds the record for most combined regular-season and playoffs games played (1,854).
James had been a modified participant in practices since training camp started last week, mainly doing individual work, after Coach JJ Redick said that James had been dealing with nerve irritation in his glute and that a cautious approach was being taken to James’ ramp-up for the upcoming season.
When asked on Thursday whether there was a plan for James in the preseason about 1 ½ hours before the Lakers released their statement, Redick responded that James was “on his own timeline.”
The previous goal was for James to be available by Opening Night against the Warriors.
James, who hasn’t had a media availability with reporters since the team’s Media Day on Sept. 29, told ESPN last week that he was physically not where he wanted to be entering training camp and that he was still “ramping things back up.”
Before the team’s announcement on Thursday, Redick had acknowledged the Lakers were entering “uncharted territory” with James.
“I don’t think there’s a proven way to handle someone who has this much mileage, this many minutes, been asked to do so many things on both ends of the court,” Redick said. “We asked a lot of him last year, we asked a lot of him to start the year in camp, so it’s just working as a partnership and trying to figure it out.”
One of the main talking points coming from the Lakers after last season ended disappointingly – a five-game, first-round playoff exit to the Minnesota Timberwolves – was how much the team would benefit from having a full training camp and preseason to become more familiar with one another ahead of the 2025-26 season.
Having the time to further build chemistry and continuity.
Especially among the team’s stars in James, Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves. Plus key newcomers, such as starting center Deandre Ayton, with Redick acknowledging part of the reason the Lakers wanted the 2018 draft’s No. 1 pick was because of the partnership with Doncic – particularly offensively in the pick and roll – and what they hope that’ll look like.
But through six practices over the last two weeks, there had already been questions about whether the Lakers have been able to maximize the preseason the way they hoped to because of the modified participation from Doncic and James, as well as other key players.
And those questions came before James’ status for the season was revealed.
“Yeah, I mean, you gotta play the cards you’re dealt,” Redick said after Thursday’s practice. “I know that’s a cliché, but that’s just reality.”
Redick’s comments came after Ayton on Wednesday lamented the fact that he hasn’t had significant time on the practice court with Doncic and James.
Doncic was a full participant in all three practices last week, including scrimmages, before sitting out of the team’s preseason games against the Phoenix Suns and Golden State Warriors. The 26-year-old star has been a “modified” participant in practices this past week, mostly doing individual work, with Redick sarcastically saying earlier in the week that “load management” was the reason for the change in Doncic’s status.
“DA got a couple [of] days with Luka last week,” Redick said. “No one’s gotten any time with LeBron. That’s not just DA – that’s everybody. He hasn’t been on the court with the team. So that’s just [the] reality.”
And the reality that was revealed on Thursday was that it’ll be even longer before the Lakers can have James fully back in the fold.