Having formally been dethroned as NBA Cup champions, the Los Angeles Lakers set their sights on a bigger banner when they return from a short break to visit the Sacramento Kings on Thursday night.
But will LeBron James be joining them?
Like most NBA teams, the Lakers were given Monday through Wednesday off this week so that the basketball world could focus on the NBA Cup final between the Milwaukee Bucks and Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Bucks added their name to the Lakers’ as Cup winners by beating the Thunder on Tuesday night in Las Vegas.
James returned from a two-game absence to contribute 18 points, eight assists and eight rebounds in 34 minutes to the Lakers’ 116-110 home win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday.
Less than two weeks from his 40th birthday, James indicated after the game that taking eight days off had helped his ailing left foot.
Lakers coach JJ Redick noted that whenever James plays moving forward, it will be in shorter stints. The future Hall of Famer was listed as questionable for Friday.
“Not necessarily less minutes,” Redick said, “but shorter runs so that he’s not getting gassed, and then quicker segments on the bench and then he’s back in.
“If he’s feeling well and feeling good, then he should play. But we obviously want to manage that as best we can.”
James put up a triple-double when the Lakers last saw the Kings in Los Angeles in October. After the Thursday contest, the clubs will meet again on Saturday in Sacramento to complete an NBA-style doubleheader.
The Lakers and Kings enter the post-NBA Cup portion of the schedule locked in a seven-team battle for sixth place in the Western Conference and the four play-in spots. The seven teams are separated by two games.
Despite losing eight times in their past 12 games, the Lakers hold the last play-in position. The Kings, who have lost eight of 13, are two games behind Los Angeles (and three other teams).
Sacramento would be a game closer had it been able to close out the visiting Denver Nuggets on Monday. However, DeMar DeRozan missed a potential game-winning shot in the final seconds, sending the Kings into a two-day break with a 130-129 defeat.
Kings coach Mike Brown cautioned his players after the Denver loss that they need to step up their interior defense ahead of the matchup with the Lakers and Anthony Davis.
“We gave up 76 points in the paint,” he said.
“This is where our team needs to grow. We have to lock into the details. We got back-cut more times in one game probably than we got back-cut all year. Until our guys lock into the details, we’re going to be a good team, but we’re not going to be where we need to go.”
A silver lining in the defeat was the play of Doug McDermott, who scored 16 points in a rare start with Keegan Murray out due to a sore left ankle.
The Kings hope to have Murray back for the Thursday game, though he, Kevin Huerter (shoulder) and Domantas Sabonis (back) were all listed as questionable.
