Two of LA’s top scorers are grappling with two very different issues.
Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darvin Ham anticipates that LA will be getting at least two of its top three scorers back sooner rather than later, per Kyle Goon of The Orange County Register.
All-Star power forward LeBron James is sidelined with what Ham is calling a “common cold,” while starting wing Lonnie Walker IV has missed the club’s last three bouts due to what Ham calls “a little bit of tendonitis.” Walker has already been ruled out for his team’s next game, a Crypto.com Arena Friday night fight against the visiting Atlanta Hawks.
James is hoping to be able to suit up for an encore performance against Atlanta tomorrow. Last Friday, on James’s 38th birthday, he scored a season-most 47 points on 18-of-27 shooting from the field in a 130-121 Lakers victory, while also grabbing 10 rebounds and dishing out nine assists and looking pretty much immortal.
James is the Lakers’ current leading scorer with 29 points a night on .510/.301/.752 shooting splits. He’s also contributing all across the board, with averages of 8.2 rebounds, 6.6 assists and a steal across his 29 healthy games this season. Walker isn’t quite chopped liver. The 6’4″ swingman is averaging 14.7 points on .455/.384/.875 shooting splits, plus 2.3 rebounds and 1.4 dimes, through his 32 healthy games to date.