Lakers' LeBron James Won't Play vs. Warriors amid Ankle Injury Recovery

Despite getting good news about his ankle, the Los Angeles Lakers are going to hold LeBron James out for a second consecutive game.

The Lakers announced James won't play Saturday against the Golden State Warriors.

General manager Rob Pelinka told reporters earlier in the day that James' imaging came back "clean and good."

After breaking the NBA's all-time scoring record in Tuesday's loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Lakers held James out of their next game against the Milwaukee Bucks two days later as he was suffering ankle soreness.

Pelinka's comments seem to indicate the Lakers don't have any long-term concerns about James' ankle, but there are reports that suggest this could be a more serious issue than they are letting on.

B/R's Chris Haynes said on his podcast with fellow NBA insider Marc Stein that James' foot and ankle get "to points where it just gets unbearable and he plays through it. ... The way it's explained to me is that might be something that lingers all season long, but it reached the dire point."

ESPN's Dave McMenamin noted the Lakers only played the Bucks game with nine players available after James was ruled out and because of all of the deals Pelinka made ahead of the trade deadline.

D'Angelo Russell, Jarred Vanderbilt, Malik Beasley and Davon Reed are all expected to be available against the Warriors. Mo Bamba, who was also acquired at the deadline, will finish serving his four-game suspension stemming from an altercation in a Feb. 3 game between the Orlando Magic and Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Lakers are facing an uphill climb to make the playoffs. They are 13th in the Western Conference standings, have lost five of their last seven games and enter Saturday's matchup with the Warriors at 25-31 overall.

Each of their next 10 games are against Western Conference teams fighting for positioning in the playoffs and play-in tournament.

James' absence leaves a huge void for head coach Darvin Ham to fill. He leads the team in scoring average (30.2 points per game) in 44 starts. Hachimura will likely start in his place against Golden State.