LOS ANGELES — LeBron James was back in the Lakers’ lineup for Sunday’s home game against the Memphis Grizzlies after a two-game absence.
James missed Friday’s road loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Dec. 8 home win over the Portland Trail Blazers, with the team listing him as out because of left foot soreness.
James didn’t travel with the team to Minneapolis after the team gave him an excused absence.
Coach JJ Redick said on Wednesday that James had been away from the team the previous few days because of personal reasons, adding that James was “taking some time.”
By not playing on Dec. 8 or Friday, James got eight days between games after last playing in the Dec. 6 road loss to the Atlanta Hawks.
“When I talked to him earlier this week, I think I said something along those lines, just hoping that he was getting a good mind and body reset,” Redick said of James pregame. “He said he felt like he was.”
Redick said pregame that he and James spoke ahead of the win over the Blazers before James’ absence from the team. James entered Dec. 8 as questionable, was upgraded to probable the morning of the matchup against the Blazers before being downgraded to doubtful two hours before the game and eventually ruled out within an hour before tipoff.
James also entered the matchup against the Hawks as questionable because of the left foot ailment before playing in the road game, finishing with 39 points, 11 assists, 10 rebounds, three blocked shots and two steals in a season-high 43 minutes.
His absence against the Blazers was his first of the season, ending his goal of playing in all 82 regular-season games after playing in the first 23.
“Every player should want to play in every game,” Redick said. “That should be the goal. Within an NBA season, for guys that play heavy minutes, there are times when you need a break. It’s just a reality.
“It’s not like these conversations haven’t been happening already. We did, LeBron and I spoke Sunday right after our meeting and walkthrough at the arena. And again, he was already going to take an excused absence. So we had a conversation about Portland specifically. And I think it was the right for him to try to take that game off, given the foot thing from the previous week and the travel and all that. So it’s just something that we’ll continue to do throughout the season.”
James, who turns 40 in two weeks, entered Saturday averaging 23 points (49.5% shooting overall, 35.9% from 3-point range), 9.1 assists and 8 rebounds in 35 minutes per game.
Friday marked the first time since the Nov. 29 home loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder that James, Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura and Anthony Davis were simultaneously available, giving the Lakers an opportunity to start their preferred first unit for the first time in over two weeks.
Reaves missed the next five games because of a bruised left pelvis, returning Friday’s loss to the Timberwolves.
Third-year wing Max Christie was the fifth starter on Sunday after scoring a season-high 15 points against the Timberwolves and an uptick in his performances over the last month.
D’Angelo Russell started the first seven games alongside the quartet of Reaves-Hachimura-James-Davis. Sixth-year wing Cam Reddish and rookie wing Dalton Knecht have also had stints in the first unit next to the Lakers’ main four starters.
Redick addressed what he was looking for in the fifth starter pregame without revealing who it’d be.
“A lot of discussion around that,” Redick said. “Because of some injuries and truthfully, just trying to find something that worked, we’ve tried a bunch of different lineups. We don’t want to do that. And ideally, we want to have that fifth guy be a complementary piece to the other four guys.
“And that complementary piece most likely looks like a point-of-attack defender. A guy that doesn’t need the ball in his hands. He’s gonna play hard, he’s gonna pick up fullcourt. Could shoot 3s. We’re trying to find some level of consistency for the group. And that fifth guy, if there’s somebody that can sort of find consistency individually, we’d like that spot to remain with the same guy.”
