What are LA Lakers' playoff chances after LeBron James is speculated to miss multiple games following his foot injury? Schedule, injuries, and more

The LA Lakers’ playoff chances took a big hit Monday as news broke that LeBron James could be set to miss an extended period of time, according to NBA insider Shams Charania of The Athletic.

"Sources: There's fear Lakers star LeBron James is likely to miss an extended period of time with his right foot injury," Charania tweeted. "James suffered the injury in Sunday's win over Dallas, played through it, and belief is he will be sidelined an indefinite amount."

The four-time MVP suffered a right foot injury in the Lakers' 111-108 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday. Charania added that the injury could keep James out of action for multiple weeks.

While LeBron may attempt to rush back after labeling the final stretch as the most important regular season games of his career, he has already been ruled out for Tuesday's game against the Memphis Grizzlies. Starting point guard D'Angelo Russell is doubtful.

The Lakers' next five games are against teams they are attempting to catch in the standings, and they will need to stack together several wins.

Although the Lakers are 4-1 since implementing their new roster pieces, they are just 1-1 without LeBron in that stretch. If they are able to conclude this stretch with three wins over the next five games, that could seriously bolster their playoff chances. If the team struggles in James' absence, those chances will take a big hit.

How can the LA Lakers' playoff chances stay afloat?

The LA Lakers' playoff chances have taken a big hit with the news that superstar forward LeBron James could miss an extended period of time. While the Lakers are just 5-9 without LeBron this season, they are 4-5 when Anthony Davis suits up without his co-star.

While the majority of those games came before the Lakers improved their roster, Lakers fans must remain optimistic that Davis and the supporting cast can pick up the slack in James' absence.

One major area of hope is their defensive improvement. The Lakers have looked like a much different team on the less flashy side of the ball after acquiring younger, more versatile players.

If LA is going to make a run at one of the top six seeds in the Western Conference, which would allow them to bypass the play-in tournament, they will need to continue to play strong defense. Losing a player of LeBron's caliber may seem impossible to overcome, but LA is in a much better position to do so than they were when the superstar went down earlier this season.