The Los Angeles Lakers are rolling right now. Two huge wins over the Chicago Bulls and Minnesota Timberwolves have catapulted the team into a position to be the seventh or eighth seed in the NBA Play-In Tournament.
With the New Orleans Pelicans having an extremely tough schedule to round out the year and the Los Angeles Clippers losing games, the Lakers could potentially even climb out of the play-in if all goes well down the stretch.
Every game matters (obviously) and the Lakers have one that they absolutely cannot drop on Sunday against the Houston Rockets. The outcome did not go LA’s way last time around with Anthony Davis on the bench. So the hope this time around is that LA’s star players can play.
But will they?
LeBron James injury status vs Rockets:
LeBron James is three games into his return from a foot injury and things look promising. While he probably is still dealing with some amount of pain, he has been able to lace it up and be very effective for LA.
LeBron finds himself back on the injury report and is listed as questionable because of his foot injury. However, that is merely a formality and is the Lakers being cautious with their star player as he rounds into shape.
Barring a last-second setback before tip-off, LeBron James should be playing tonight against the Rockets. Expect him to have a smaller workload if LA can properly take care of business against an inferior team.
Full Lakers injury report vs Rockets:
Anthony Davis is also on the injury report and is listed as probable against Houston. Like LeBron, AD’s place on the injury report is merely a formality. He has actually been on the injury report every game since he returned from his foot injury.
Davis did roll his ankle against the Timberwolves and the entire season flashed before fans’ eyes but he was able to come back into the game. It should not be an issue moving forward.
Mo Bamba remains out with an ankle sprain he suffered several weeks ago. The big man is expected to be re-evaluated next week.
Full Rockets injury report vs Lakers:
Houston only has one injury to report against the Lakers as Jae’Sean Tate is officially listed as out with a knee injury. Tate has been on-and-off this season and has only played 31 games. He scored 13 points in 20 minutes the last time these two teams squared off.