LeBron James Out Vs. Timberwolves

After originally being listed as questionable with a right hip contusion and left foot arthritis, the Los Angeles Lakers have downgraded LeBron James to out for Tuesday night’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

This means James will be missing his third straight game due to various ailments. The Lakers won both of the first two games, blowing out the Indiana Pacers and then leading wire-to-wire against the New York Knicks.

There has been some discussion about the Lakers potentially being better without James as they are 9-2 in games he has sat out while Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves have played.

If the Lakers want to reach their ceiling though, they will need James healthy and integrated into their offense. While the fit with Doncic may not be perfect, they are two of the highest-IQ players in the league and must find a way to make it work if L.A. is gonna make any noise in the postseason.

Tuesday night’s matchup is a good test for the Lakers as the Timberwolves, of course, eliminated them in the first round last year. L.A. is just a game behind Minnesota in the standings for the third seed in the West, so there are some major standings implications at stake as well.

This is the third matchup between these teams this season. The first two came early in the year when James was also out, and L.A. won both of them.

LeBron James critical of inconsistent NBA officiating

During the most recent episode of his “Mind the Game” podcast with Steve Nash, LeBron James expressed frustration with the lack of consistency with NBA officiating.

“As a player it’s so inconsistent, the way it’s called, and as players we just want consistency. On any given night you can have one official telling you one thing, and then another official telling you another thing. My take is like, is this not a world league conversation that you guys are having to like, this is how we’re officiating these plays and this is how we’re officiating these moves, this is how we’re officiating this. Or is it just like dependent on the ref? So that’s the most frustrating part when you’re out there and sometimes you can get away with certain things… It’s like even defensively, some games you’re allowed to get away with completely bear hugging guys and holding them. And then two nights later, you can barely put your hands on guys. It’s like OK, what are we doing? The emphasis on the evolution of the gather step and the step through after already establishing the pivot foot, I do not have the answer. I have no idea.”