Lakers will be ‘as cautious as possible’ with LeBron James

LeBron James suffered a strained left adductor during a Nov. 9 contest against the Los Angeles Clippers.

It was bad timing. The Lakers lost their fourth game in a row that night, and fans feared the worst, especially after he had suffered a similar injury four seasons ago that had kept him out for five weeks.

It was initially thought that perhaps James would only miss a couple of games. But he has now been out for four contests.

Luckily, L.A. has done well without him, losing its initial contest sans James, then winning three in a row, including a 123-92 beat down of the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday.

Prior to the contest, head coach Darvin Ham gave a bit of an update on James’ recovery and the thinking behind when he may return (at 1:35).

“He’s staying in rhythm, but again, what you do in a 1-on-0 workout or 5-on-0 workout is a lot different than going in a game where you’re bumping bodies, changing speeds, changing direction,” Ham said. “That’s not predictable and not as controlled as an individual workout. So again, there’s no need to be in a hurry with him. He’s gonna definitely play a big bulk of games this season.

“It’s November, so we have time on our side. We had that long break last week, seeing some opponents and getting healthy guys back in Thomas and Dennis allows us to really take our time with him. So we just want to be as cautious as possible so again, it doesn’t turn into something he’s constantly dealing with throughout the season.”

The Lakers will take on the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday to start a three-game road trip. They would surely love to have the four-time MVP against the 2021 Western Conference champions so they could have a real chance of extending their nascent winning streak.