After participating in this morning’s shootaround, Gabe Vincent (left ankle sprain) has been upgraded to available for the first time since October 26, while LeBron James (sciatica) is being considered a game-time decision when the Lakers host the Jazz on Tuesday night, tweets Dan Woike of The Athletic.
James, who practiced with the Lakers on Monday, said his lungs felt “like a newborn baby” and that he was still working on getting his conditioning and his voice back to normal, writes Khobi Price of The Southern California News Group.
“I got to get my lungs back up to a grown man,” James said. “My voice is already gone. One day back, barking out calls and assignments and stuff, getting my voice working again. Be a lot of tea and rest (on Monday night).”
James’ record-setting 23rd NBA season has been delayed by sciatica on his right side, which forced him to miss the start of a season for the first time in his career. The 40-year-old told reporters, including Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times, that he also dealt with sciatica two years ago, referring to it as “not fun.”
“If you ever had it, you go about it and you wake up one day and you hope that when you step down from the bed that you don’t feel it,” LeBron said. “You go to bed at night, and you hope that when you’re in the bed that you don’t feel it. So I’ve been doing pretty good with it as of late. There’s a lot of exercises and a lot of mobility things and a lot of things you can do to help it. So I’m just keeping a positive mindset.”
James will go through his normal pregame routine in the hopes of playing on Tuesday, per Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter video link).
Here’s more from around the Western Conference:
- Warriors forward Draymond Green wasn’t fined for his face-to-face altercation with a fan who was heckling him in New Orleans on Sunday (Twitter video link), but the NBA did issue a warning over the incident, a source tells Charania (Twitter link). “He just kept calling me a woman,” Green said of the fan after the game, per Nick Friedell of The Athletic. “It was a good joke at first but you can’t keep calling me a woman. I got four kids, one on the way; you can’t keep calling me a woman. He got quiet, though. So, it was fine.” The fan told The Associated Press that he was chanting “Angel Reese” at Green after the Warriors veteran rebounded several of his own missed shots.
- Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga (bilateral patellar tendonitis) will miss a third consecutive game on Tuesday when the team faces the Magic in Orlando, tweets Anthony Slater of ESPN. Reporting last week indicated that there are no structural concerns with Kuminga’s knees and that the forward’s absence should be “relatively short-term.”
- Trail Blazers guard Jrue Holiday missed Sunday’s game – a loss to Dallas – and is listed as doubtful to play on Tuesday vs. Phoenix due to right calf soreness (Twitter link). As Sean Highkin of the Rose Garden Report (subscription required) writes, Holiday’s absence on Sunday was especially impactful because so many of Portland’s other point guards are sidelined due to injuries too. “Jrue is our core,” Blazers forward Deni Avdija said. “I feel like he does everything on the floor. He puts us in our positions. He’s a real true point guard and a leader. When he’s out of the game, it’s definitely felt.”
- Jahmai Mashack‘s new two-way contract with the Grizzlies is for two years, while Jamaree Bouyea‘s two-way deal with the Suns is for the rest of the season, Hoops Rumors has confirmed. Bouyea was ineligible for a two-year contract because this will be his fourth season in the NBA.
Great troll job by the fan. No profanity, no off court stuff. Just calling him Angel Reese is hilarious, especially when he rebounds 3 or 4 of his own shots in 1 possession,
Green shutting down Wemby and every tall player in the NBA shows he plays above the rim better than any player his size.
Hilarious heckling! It’s comical that Dray didn’t laugh about it honestly. To be called Angel Reese because he kept mebounding is great! What’s not great is that Dray took it as him being called a woman… I mean how do you not get the joke?
Calling a self-defined man a woman is not “hilarious” at all. Its sexism, transphobia and homophobia.
That fan had a more punchable face than even Draymond does. If he said that to me I would sock him up nice.
Good lord. Go outside and touch some grass. Please explain was this made up term “self-defined man” means?
So what you are saying is that be Draymond not being secure in his own manhood, that being called Angel Reese means he is being called a woman. So that sounds like the one who is homophobic and transphobic is Draymond. Which that checks out.
I spend all day outside, this is what regular, non-racist/sexist/homophobic people think, and you are actually a bad person IRL for defending an idiotic heckler with a punchable face vs an NBA player.
Once again, using pro sports as a vehichle for your hate is gross and I will call it out every time. So what you are saying here is worthless.
After a month of NBA basketball, the East vs West win percentage is 46-54%. Which is actually higher than this century’s average.
And that is despite the fact that hopeless injury-decimated Indiana has played only 5 games against the East but already 9 times against the West, boosting the West’s win ratio.
Other than that, the competition level is decent. And we’re certainly not seeing GSWs, LACs, Denvers and Memphises rolling through the East farming easy wins, or “the worst East in history” as so many people predicted. People who are mostly fans of the Western Conference teams and keep saying “It’s not fair that we’re in this conference, the East is so bad, my mighty Warriors/Lakers/Spurs would win 65+ games every year in the East”.
So why are there people on here arguing with me that the East is amazing and the West is garbage, when the opposite has been true for decades?
There’s a reason that most players have retired before they reach their 40’s! Lebron, are listening??
That Jrue Holiday is quite a player!
Draymond’s reaction almost guarantees he’ll hear that again now that he let it get under his skin lol
and then what? He will play better and win more games from it? COOL
“Steph washed”
“Warriors dynasty is over”
“Curry is too old and coming to the end of his career”
Steph Curry put 46 and 49 on Wemby’s head in 2 games in 3 days in 2 wins. If you think he isn’t dab smack in the middle of his prime, you are wrong and do not know ball in the slightest. He has not slowed down even a little.
Curry’s “prime” WILL last into his 40’s. He might play til 50 if he stops being a 30+ MPG guy after the age of 45 – but he is 37 now, that’s NINE more years of Curry dominance you clowns and haters are going to have to live through!!! Hahaha Dub Nation STAYS on top!!!! Cope and seethe, hater trolls!!!!