The Los Angeles Lakers got off to a disappointing start to the season with a 119-109 loss to the Golden State Warriors. While it’s far too early to say whether or not the Lakers are a good team, it’s obvious that they need LeBron James back on the court sooner rather than later.
James was forced to miss the opener due to sciatica on his right side. It’s not an easy injury to play through, so he’s decided to wait until he can he 100% before getting back on the court.
At 40 years old, James cannot afford to make the injury worse. Unfortunately, that means the Lakers are likely to still be without him for a while. Following the team’s loss in the opener, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that James’ season debut is likely still at least a month away.
“Sources tell me he’s going to be very, very patient with this injury,” Charania said on “The Pat McAfee Show.” “I’m told the Lakers and LeBron are looking at mid-Novemberish for him to make his debut.”
Just because the Lakers lost to the Warriors doesn’t mean they won’t be able to stay afloat until James gets back, but they can’t dig themselves into too deep a hole.
James Trying to Help Team Amid Injury
It doesn’t seem like James wants to remain with the Lakers after the season, but he’s still committed to the team for now. According to head coach JJ Redick, the future Hall of Famer is doing what he can to help the team.
“LeBron was really helpful,” Redick said Wednesday, per ESPN.
Redick continues to use James as a resource, especially when it comes to film study.
“I told them him asking questions, him giving his input, us having a back-and-forth is so healthy,” Redick said. “I would like to have dialogue and back-and-forth and questions every single time we do film and teach. You got a question, speak up. If you want to make a point, speak up. It was good.”
Lakers Still Building Chemistry
The Lakers have a lot of returning players from last season, but there are some key new pieces. This is also Luka Doncic’s first full season with the team. Factoring all of that in with James’ absence, it’s easy to understand why it’s going to take some time to build up chemistry.
Redick spoke about building team chemistry.
“Our team, by the end of last season, had a connective brain tissue,” Redick said. “We functioned really well as a unit whatever group was out there. We just don’t have that yet. We don’t have that connectivity where we all kind of trust and know each other on both ends of the floor and we know exactly what we’re doing.
“We’re going to get there. I’m very confident we’re going to get there.”
The Lakers may need to add a piece or two at the trade deadline if they’re going to be title contenders, but they should have enough to at least be in the playoff mix despite losing the opener.
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