LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James will not play in the team’s preseason opener against the hosts on Saturday after missing 27 games of the National Basketball Association (NBA) season with injuries, including one to his right foot. vs. the Golden State Warriors.
But the forward, who turns 39 in December and is the NBA’s oldest active player, still plans to play heavily in the preseason ahead of his 21st NBA season.
“Six preseason games, so hopefully I’ll be able to play in at least half of them,” he said Thursday. “But we’ll see. I think every game will determine that. I won’t be playing Saturday in the Bay Area, that’s for sure. But we’ll see after that.”
Lakers head coach Davin Hamm gave glowing reviews of James’ performance in training camp.
“He’s 100 percent healthy,” he said. “I look good. “He looks like a third- or fourth-year LeBron. “
The Lakers and their medical staff will continue to keep a close eye on James and the star’s longtime medical coach, Mike Mancias.
“We collaborate and communicate on these steps,” Hamm added.
“We made sure we had a plan that worked. The beauty of the way we’re moving forward is he’s in great shape. Number two, in terms of appearances and minutes, what he’s gotten outside of (Anthony Davis) Probably more experience than the entire team combined. And he takes great care of himself.”
After Saturday’s game, the Lakers will face the Brooklyn Nets in Las Vegas on Monday before taking on the Sacramento Kings in Anaheim on Wednesday.
The team will then host the Warriors on Oct. 13 and the Milwaukee Bucks on Oct. 15 before closing out the season in exhibition games against the Phoenix Suns in Palm Springs on Oct. 19. Five days later, they open their season against the Denver Nuggets.
“Just relax,” Ham said of James’ plan. “The fact that our squad is what it is, he doesn’t have to start the season with a cape on, so to speak. The help around him will keep him from having to give it his all in every practice and every pre-season game.”
Meanwhile, the Warriors secured an expansion franchise from the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), with the team set to begin play in 2025.
This is the WNBA’s 13th team and the first to join since 2008.
The Warriors are now the sixth NBA team to have a WNBA franchise, joining the Indiana Pacers (Indiana Fever), Minnesota Timberwolves (Minnesota Lynx), Nets (New York Liberty), Suns (Phoenix) Mercury) and Washington Wizards (Washington Mystics).Reuters