The Los Angeles Lakers have been struggling as of late with things only getting worse as LeBron James will be sitting out Monday night’s game vs the Denver Nuggets per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski report. After an early exit vs the Toronto Raptors last night. In the final six minutes of the game, James started experiencing soreness in his ankle in the 121-114 loss. This comes after James had just returned after missing 20 games due to a high-ankle sprain.
According to Lakers reporter Mike Trudell, Head Coach Frank Vogel says LeBron did not suffer a setback with his ankle, but rather deciding just to rest James on the second night of a back-to-back.
LeBron James did not suffer a setback with his ankle last night against Toronto, but Frank Vogel said they decided to hold him out for this 2nd night of a back to back. LeBron said the ankle was sore in the 2nd half of both games, and he's day-to-day moving forward.
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) May 4, 2021
Los Angeles troubles continue as they will also be without starting Point Guard Dennis Schroder who is out for 10-14 days due to health and safety protocols.
The Lakers are currently the 6th seed in the west if the playoffs were to start today, but other teams are slowly catching ground. The Lakers are in a three-way tie for the fifth seed with the Trailblazers and Mavericks. Unlike previous years, the difference between a 5th-7th seed means either an automatic playoff berth or having to participate in the NBA’s new play-in tournament.
The king has already expressed his views on the NBA’s new play-in tournament stating that whoever came up with the idea should ‘be fired’ after championing the idea early on.
“You’ve got to earn your spot to be in the postseason. No consolation for finishing last. That’s corny.”
James may not like the idea of a play-in tournament but that very well could be where the LA ends up if LeBron doesn’t recover in time in the last few games of the season. The Lakers have lost three straight, and six of their previous seven games heading into Monday night. They have a tough stretch of games coming up starting with the Nuggets. After that they’ll play the Clippers on Thursday night, the top-seeded Suns on Sunday and then host the New York Knicks next Tuesday. How they fare during this stretch will ultimately determine where they finish in the playoff picture.
Flip the page for LeBron not being a fan of the play-in tournament.