LeBron James might miss weeks, but Lakers say it’s no excuse in playoff chase

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Given the heaping injury misfortune they’ve dealt with over the past few years, the Lakers have gotten used to the sight of their stars in street clothes on the sideline.

Still, even then it was disconcerting when LeBron James rolled into FedEx Forum toward the end of the first quarter Tuesday night, wearing a backward hat, a black leather jacket and an enormous walking boot on his right lower leg.

There’s been no official diagnosis as to what exactly is wrong with James’ right foot – in fact, Lakers officials said Tuesday night, he’s still being medically evaluated to see what his prognosis is. But whatever went wrong Sunday in Dallas, it’s not good, and the team is not preparing for him to return very soon.

“I know he loves to play, I know he wants to help the team, so it never crossed my mind that he’ll be out until he told me he’ll be out,” teammate Anthony Davis said. “So that’s when it kind of sunk in.”

Multiple media reports have cited that James is at least several weeks away from returning in a season that has only six weeks and 20 games remaining. While James has missed extended time with injuries in each of the last two seasons, it still can feel jarring when he can’t push through.

In retrospect, the Lakers were stunned that James was able to retie his right shoe and play the fourth quarter on his injured foot on Sunday. Ham said the medical staff would not have played him if he was in a position to make his injury worse, but also that the team was wary of sitting him too long lest his foot lock up on him against Dallas.

“He soldiered up,” Ham said. “That’s the only thing I can think of that comes immediately to my mind.”

Now the Lakers know, at the very least, they’ll have to play without James for the foreseeable future. Troy Brown Jr. started at forward in James’ place. But Ham was adamant that the Lakers’ goal of making the postseason – and hopefully avoiding a play-in spot by climbing into the top six seeds – remains.

“The mission hasn’t changed for us, so the goal of securing a playoff spot is still very much alive,” he said. “It’s unfortunate that Bron went down, but injuries are a real part of our sport and it’s next man up. You got to step up and hold down the fort until he returns.”

Some of the Lakers players said they weren’t surprised that James will miss time. Brown said seeing James limp after the game gave him an inkling that the injury was worse than the 38-year-old let on.

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It became clear that the Lakers will miss James’ team-high scoring (29.5 ppg) but also his playmaking (6.9 apg) in the loss to Memphis. The 26 turnovers against the Grizzlies were a season-worst, and the Lakers lacked the sense of organization that James often brings to the floor.

“You got arguably the best player to ever play the game, you’re gonna feel his absence,” Coach Darvin Ham said. “That’s for damn sure.”

But that isn’t an excuse – far from it, according to Davis. The Lakers are still riding high off their improved roster, which has gone 4-2 since the trade deadline. Davis insisted that the Lakers, who were competitive for the first half against the second-place Grizzlies, have plenty of talent to climb back into playoff position.

“Obviously it’s a tough blow when your big guys go out, but we have more than enough to still win basketball games,” Davis said. “And we have to. He’s not coming back anytime soon. So we can’t feel sorry for ourselves, we can’t put our head down and say, ‘Oh we miss Bron.’ We have to go out and compete to the level that we did tonight.”

Injured Lakers star LeBron James looks on during a pause in play in the first half of their game against the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday night in Memphis, Tenn. The team says James’ foot injury is still being evaluated, but he is reportedly going to miss several weeks. (Photo by Justin Ford/Getty Images)