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Throughout the entire NBA season, LeBron James had been dealing with an ankle injury that he acquired from the previous season. While James has technically recovered from his injury, his ankle seems stubborn and won't easily go away. As a result, there will be games where LeBron is forced to sit out to preserve his lower body to last the entire season.
It appears the time for LeBron James to rest has come again as prominent NBA Insider Shams Charania reported that "King James" won't be available to play against the LA Clippers on Tuesday. Some may call it load management, but in all fairness to LeBron, he has only missed four games so far this season.
Despite being available to play most of the time for the LA Lakers, fans on social media still found ways to make fun of "LBJ". James is scheduled to miss his fifth game out of 45 and yet fans ruthlessly roasted him online. Here's what some fans had to say on social media:
"Ducking Westbrook in 2024 😭 "
"DUCKING SMOKE😂 "
"Jordan would never"
"Ducking the Clippers because he knows they own the Lakers 😭 "
"Lakers waving the white flag😭 "
"We ain’t gonna get another healthy Kawhi vs bron"
"Kobe would never do this 😤 "
"LeLoadManager"
Can the LA Clippers end their losing streak against LA Lakers with LeBron James out?
Ever since the LA Clippers era of Paul George and Kawhi Leonard began, they've had a slight edge over the LA Lakers after consistently beating them on most occasions. However, this season seems to be different as the LA Lakers are currently 2-0 against the LA Clippers. But it's important to note that LeBron James was present in both recent victories.
With that in mind, having James out of the picture might change the potential outcome of the matchup. Looking at their two previous games against each other, it was "The King" who rallied his side to victory on both occasions. In the first game, LeBron took over with a double-double performance adding 35 points and 12 rebounds. In their second encounter, James nearly had a triple-double performance with 25 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.
While this could give the LA Clippers a sigh of relief, there's still a possibility that the LA Lakers could win without LeBron by their side. As of late, D'Angelo Russell seems to have woken up from his cold spell and is playing the way the Purple and Gold had hoped for from him since the beginning of the season. Looking at his past five games, Russell has averaged 27.2 points, 6.4 assists, 2.2 rebounds and 1.0 blocks.
Then of course there's Anthony Davis who is likely to take over the offense with LeBron James out of the picture. Austin Reaves will also likely take more shots while the rest of the LA Lakers crew will be forced to step up. With all that being said, Tuesday night's matchup between both LA teams could go either way at this point.
