LeBron James is expected to miss most of March with an injured tendon in his right foot, the Los Angeles Lakers said on Thursday.
If that timetable holds, the Lakers will have to find a way to stay in the playoff race without the league’s all-time scoring leader.
The Lakers did not disclose the full extent of the injury, saying it was a tendon issue and that he will be “reevaluated in approximately three weeks.” If James misses three more weeks, starting with Thursday, that would keep him out for at least 10 of the Lakers’ final 19 games.
James was hurt in the Lakers’ win at Dallas on Sunday. He has already missed two games with the injury, with the Lakers splitting those contests.
“In the short term, we’ll all have to pull in the same direction,” Lakers Coach Darvin Ham said after his team — without James and Anthony Davis — beat Oklahoma City 123-117 on Wednesday.
At 30-33, the Lakers are 11th in the Western Conference standings, one game from the No. 10 spot — and the last spot in the play-in round. They’re also just 2 1/2 games back of sixth place, and the final guaranteed playoff spot.
That’s good news, and so is what’s left for the Lakers on the schedule. Only seven of their final 19 games are against teams that currently have records over .500 — with several games against other teams jostling for position in the West postseason chase. The Lakers start a five-game homestand Friday against Minnesota.
James leads the Lakers in scoring at 29.5 points per game. He said at the All-Star break last month that the team’s closing stretch this season would be some of the most important games he has played — noting he didn’t want to miss the postseason for a second consecutive year.
The Lakers are 6-10 without him in the lineup this season, and 24-23 in games he has appeared.
If the timetable does not significantly change, this would be only the third time in James’ 20-year career that he misses at least 10 consecutive games. He missed a 20-game stretch late in the 2020-21 season with an ankle sprain, and a 17-game stretch in the 2018-19 season with a groin injury. Those stints both came since he joined the Lakers; he never had that long of an extended absence during his times with Cleveland or Miami.
James has logged nearly 65,000 minutes in regular-season and playoff games since entering the league — almost 20,000 more than any other player in that span.
THUNDER: The Oklahoma City Thunder expect forward Kenrich Williams to miss the rest of the season with an injury to his left wrist.
The team said Williams will need surgery. He was hurt on Tuesday in a game against the Sacramento Kings.
Williams signed a multiyear extension last summer. The fifth-year player averaged 8.0 points and 4.9 rebounds, shooting 51.7% from the field this season. His 26 charges drawn lead the NBA.
Williams went undrafted out of TCU, but he has appeared in 200 NBA games, including 60 starts, in his career with New Orleans and Oklahoma City. He has career averages of 6.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists.
THURSDAY’S GAMES
WIZARDS 119, RAPTORS 107: Kyle Kuzma scored the game’s first 10 points and finished with 30, Kristaps Porzingis added 25 points, and Washington beat visiting Toronto in the opener of a two-game set between Eastern Conference playoff contenders.
Daniel Gafford scored 18 points and Delon Wright had a season-high 11 assists for the Wizards, who moved within percentage points of the ninth-place Raptors in the East standings.
O.G. Anunoby scored 26 points and Jakob Poeltl had 23 points and 13 rebounds for the Raptors, who had won five of their previous six games.
MAVERICKS 133, 76ERS 126: Luka Doncic scored 42 points, Kyrie Irving added 40 and the new All-Star pairing sparkled throughout Dallas’ win over visiting Philadelphia.
Doncic won a matchup of the NBA’s top two scorers as Joel Embiid finished with 35 points for the 76ers, who were playing a night after a win in Miami without their All-Star center.
Irving and Doncic became the first Dallas teammates to score at least 40 in the same game.
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