LeBron James questionable to play Wednesday, Luka Doncic to see minutes increase

The biggest Lakers news Tuesday was about the health of LeBron James and the increased minutes for Luka Doncic.

James, who didn’t play in Sunday’s All-Star Game in San Francisco because of lingering ankle and foot discomfort, has been listed as questionable for Wednesday night’s game against Charlotte at Crypto.com Arena.

“It’s something that we managed all year and it was sore over the weekend,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said after practice. “He was able to do most of practice today. But, like it’s been all year, like it’s a day-to-day thing. It’s just something that we’ve had to manage and we’ll continue to manage throughout the rest of the year.”

James, 40 and a 22-year veteran, is averaging 24.3 points, 9.0 assists and 7.7 rebounds over 34.5 minutes per game. He is shooting 51.6% from the field and 39.5% from three-point range. He played in 48 of the Lakers’ 52 games before the break.

In the two games Doncic has played with the Lakers since being acquired from Dallas in a blockbuster deal that sent Anthony Davis to the Mavericks, Doncic averaged 23.5 minutes per game. He was limited because he was returning from an injury that sidelined him since Christmas.

But with six days off over the break, Redick said Doncic will be fine for an increased load.

“His minutes will be up tomorrow,” Redick said. “I don’t think there is going to be any sort of restrictions going forward.”

Challenging schedule

The Lakers open the second half against Charlotte on Wednesday night in a makeup game following its Jan. 9 postponement because of the wildfires in the Los Angeles area. Then the Lakers play Thursday night in Portland and at Denver on Saturday.

The Lakers will have two days off and then play eight games over 14 days, and just two of the teams are below .500. The Lakers have another set of back-to-back games during that stretch.

“The next month is going to be a huge challenge for us,” Redick said. “It’s the quality of opponent, but it’s also just the schedule in general. It’s going to be difficult. We’ve got to fight through it as a group.”

The Lakers are 32-20 and fifth in the competitive Western Conference. They won 12 of their last 15 games heading into the break.
Redick said they got prepared for the second half with a good practice Tuesday.

“A lot of it was just getting up and down the court,” Redick said. “We did some execution stuff. Still trying to get the new guys acclimated to different things. But mostly just about guys getting up and down, reacclimating them to play at a high level.”