Lakers coach Darvin Ham said “in all likelihood,” LeBron James “should be available” to play against the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday night at Crypo.com Arena.
What that will look like with James playing for the first time with the collection of talent the Lakers accumulated via the trade market last Thursday is an unknown.
James missed the last three games with left ankle soreness and only could watch newcomers D’Angelo Russell, Jarred Vanderbilt, Malik Beasley and Davon Reed try to incorporate themselves into the Lakers mix the last two games.
Although James was officially listed Tuesday as questionable for the Pelicans game, whenever he does return, Russell admitted Monday night, it’s hard to know what to expect when the NBA’s all-time leading scorer returns to the court to join the new players.
“I mean, I don’t know what to anticipate. I haven’t played with him so I don’t really know what I’m missing,” Russell said after the Lakers lost to the Trail Blazers on Monday night in Portland. “Just me personally.
“So, for him, I just hope he’s been doing what he’s doing the last whatever [amount of] games. He’s been averaging 30 points. Our offense seems to be not the smoothest thing right now so I think we get our offense flowing, it will lead to better shots and it will lead to. … We’ll be in better position to guard on defense.”
Lakers need wins
The Lakers are six games below .500 at 26-32, stand 13th in the upper-competitive Western Conference and are 3½-games behind the 10th spot entering Tuesday night’s games. They are 4½ games out of the top five in the West.
With 24 games left in the regular season, the Lakers still have enough time to make a run for a playoff-in game by finishing in the top 10. They also still have time to finish in the top six, which would give them an automatic berth in the playoffs.
However, the Lakers also know time is not on their side. They have only the Pelicans game remaining before the All-Star break, another they really can’t afford to lose.
“Every team is saying, ‘If we could just win one more, two more … we’re three games out … two games out,’ ” Russell said. “So, it’s just going to come down to actually doing it. Obviously, we got all the excuses in the world to use. Coach throws five guys out there and they’re prepared, we should have a chance. Simple as that. Whatever five, especially if I’m playing. I’ll do whatever it takes to try to give us a chance.
“So, we can’t dwell on it but knowing that we have every excuse in the world to use. Are we going to use it or are we going to just kind of go out there and try to make something happen? Guys’ energy is good. I think the energy is shifted right now and we’re figuring it out and we want it. So, we’ll see.”
Russell has perhaps the steepest learning curve among the new players.
He plays point guard — as does Dennis Schroder — and it’s up to Russell to run the offense and get others involved.
In his two games with the Lakers, Russell is averaging 15.5 points on 46.4% shooting, 27.3% on three-pointers, 5.0 assists and 4.0 rebounds.
“So, on a scale of one through 10, I’m a one right now,” he said. “I don’t know anything. I don’t know any [terminology]. I’m just now learning the language that we use on defense. So, it’s not going to happen right away.
“As much as everybody are Laker fans in the world, they want it to happen right away. Just like any other team, you got to build. You got to go through ups and downs to kind of have something to build on going into the next game.”
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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