On Thursday, October 9, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that LeBron James will miss at least 2-4 weeks with sciatica on his right side. This likely means that LeBron, who averaged 24.4 points, 8.2 assists, and 7.8 rebounds per game last season, will miss Los Angeles’ October 21 opener against the Golden State Warriors. There’s also a chance he’ll miss another four or five games, if he ends up being on the longer end of that timetable.
The Lakers had a regular season win total of 48.5 or 49.5 at most shops before the news trickled out. Los Angeles’ win total now sits at 46.5 or 47.5 at quite a few sportsbooks — though there’s still a 48.5 available at bet365 if you want to go Under on a better number.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe Under was always going to be an intriguing play with this Lakers team, which is built around two stars that have been injury-prone in recent seasons. Now that those injuries are starting a little early, it’s hard to be optimistic about this squad — especially with how offensive-minded this Los Angeles team is set to be. Will the Lakers be able to stop anyone? And if LeBron misses a week or two, will they be good enough offensively to consistently win track meets?
Perhaps the injury to LeBron is another reason to jump on one of the offseason’s trendier picks: Luka Doncic to win Most Valuable Player (+400). The Slovenian averaged 28.2 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 7.5 assists per game on 43.8/37.9/79.1 shooting splits in 28 regular season games with Los Angeles last year. Luka is also in the best shape he has been in since early in his career, as he seriously committed to changing his body before lacing his shoes up for Slovenia in EuroBasket.
J.J. Redick was already going to roll the ball out to Luka, putting trust in the five-time All-NBA First Teamer to be the engine of a top-five offense. However, LeBron was going to be a big part of that as a secondary playmaker, a roller/cutter, and an overall scorer. Now Luka will likely have some extra games with a sky-high usage rate, and he’ll play some of them on national television. Let’s see if the 26-year-old can put up some stupid numbers, giving him an early leg up on the competition in the market.
In regards to Los Angeles’ big-picture outlook, it’s hard to say how much things will change. As far as I’m concerned, this team was always going to need to get into the postseason through the Play-In Tournament. But that scenario now looks a little more likely with LeBron potentially missing a handful of games.
However, if you believed in Los Angeles to win the title (18-1) before, this probably shouldn’t be enough to put you off. The case for the Lakers to do big things this year is that Luka and LeBron on the same playoff team will be impossible to stop over the course of a seven-game series, and adding Deandre Ayton, a legitimate starting center, to the mix will only make them tougher to guard. If you believe that to be true, you shouldn’t care much about a small injury to start the year.
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