LeBron James out vs. Blazers with left foot soreness

The Lakers will miss LeBron James in their return home from a road trip on Sunday against the Blazers as the forward is out with foot soreness.

The Lakers will be without LeBron James in Sunday’s game against the Blazers. After being upgraded to probable to play earlier in the day, LeBron James was downgraded to doubtful roughly two hours before tip before officially being ruled out an hour before the game.

LeBron had been listed on the injury report with left foot soreness heading into the contest.

The Lakers are coming off a four-game road trip as part of roughly a two-week span where the team spent only about 36 hours in Los Angeles around Thanksgiving. During that stretch, LeBron was a mainstay in the lineup, for better and for worse at times.

With the Lakers set to be at home for an extended time due to failing to qualify for the NBA Cup knockout rounds, head coach JJ Redick noted that the opportunity for rest for LeBron was at least a partial factor in him potentially missing Sunday’s game.

Assuming LeBron doesn’t play on Sunday, it’ll be a week of rest between games. The Lakers played in Atlanta on Friday and would not play again until this upcoming Friday in Minnesota.

It’s not ideal given the current losing slump the Lakers are in to rest LeBron, but they’re also coming up against a Blazers side that’s near the bottom of the standings in the league.

Portland is 8-15 on the season and has won just two of its last nine games. All things considered, these are exactly the type of games you’d rest LeBron in.

Now, the challenge for the Lakers will be picking up the slack and winning in his presumed absence.

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