LOS ANGELES — Ever one for discriminating taste, LeBron James showed up to Friday’s game dressed in a gray sweater and matching pants.
Lakers fans, however, are ready to see him back in uniform.
James sat out against the Detroit Pistons, missing his third straight game with what the Lakers have called a left adductor strain. He’s been out since having to leave early in a loss to the Clippers last week, grabbing at his left groin – which he injured in 2018, resulting in significant missed time.
James insisted that his injury hasn’t been as bad as the previous one, and Coach Darvin Ham said he was a game-time decision going through “a few procedures” before he was officially ruled out.
But there has to be some growing concern on the Lakers’ front given James’ recent injury history after his fourth missed game of the season. The four-time league MVP has only played more than 56 games once in his four previous Lakers seasons, and with his 38th birthday approaching on Dec. 30, the man who has played the second-most minutes – when accounting for regular season and playoffs combined – of any player in NBA history isn’t getting any younger.
James has been the Lakers’ leading scorer (24.9 ppg) despite declining efficiency (45.7% shooting overall). In the loss to the Clippers, he scored 30 points.
Still, Ham said James has been one of the vocal leaders during the past week, helping drive a passionate Saturday film session that helped lead to their Sunday victory over Brooklyn. Veteran guard Dennis Schröder said he thought James had been taking on more of a vocal role since getting hurt, both on the bench and behind the scenes.
“He didn’t really say too much at the beginning of the season,” he said. “But I think the last two games, I think, in video sessions and in practice he’s been vocal to everyone, with what we want to do and what we’ll try to accomplish. And I think that’s what we need from him.”
The Lakers also ruled out Juan Toscano-Anderson from the game, after the forward missed some time in practice with mid-back soreness. Rookie guard Max Christie, who is in the NBA’s COVID-19 protocols, missed the game as well.
HAM’S DETROIT CONNECTIONS
It’s not every day a coach gets to line up against the franchise he won a championship ring with. But the 2004 Pistons have a pair of players in the NBA’s coaching ranks: Portland’s Chauncey Billups, and now Darvin Ham.
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But seeing the Pistons on Friday night represented a little more than that for Ham, who is also a Michigan native. He only spent two seasons and played 101 games as a Piston, but it shaped his legacy as a player and career as a coach. To this day, he said, he keeps in touch with 82-year-old Larry Brown, who coached that title team.
“It was my hometown favorite team,” he said. “To go on to win a championship with them, and still be in contact with Rasheed (Wallace), Chauncey, all of my other brothers off that team, it’s a blessing. And just that time seeing how hard Larry works. Seeing how much he cares. Whether you were the first guy on the team or the 15th, he always wanted to check in and make sure you were doing OK.”