Report: LeBron James Leaves Lakers' Road Trip, Returns to LA amid Groin Injury

LeBron James will reportedly not be with the Los Angeles Lakers for the remainder of their ongoing road trip as he continues to recover from the groin strain he suffered in Saturday's loss to the Boston Celtics.

ESPN's Shams Charania reported Wednesday that James followed a medical recommendation to return to Los Angeles even though the Lakers are scheduled to face the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday and Denver Nuggets on Friday to complete a four-game road trip.

James missed Monday's loss to the Brooklyn Nets, which dropped the Lakers to 40-23 overall.

Things won't get much easier without the King in the next two games against potential title contenders in the Bucks and Nuggets. The Denver game is particularly important, as Los Angeles is one game behind Nikola Jokić and Co. in the race for the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference.

It is also tied with the Memphis Grizzlies and one game ahead of the Houston Rockets, so it wouldn't be a surprise to see the Purple and Gold fall in the conference's pecking order while the face of the franchise is sidelined.

That will also put more onus on Luka Dončić to carry the offense as he becomes fully adjusted to his new team following the shocking trade with the Dallas Mavericks.

Charania reported Sunday that the expectation was James would miss "at least" one or two weeks. However, that may be underestimating the amount of time the 40-year-old misses, as agent Rich Paul stressed caution during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show.

"I won't put a timetable on it," Paul said. "I'll let LeBron decide what's to be done there."

Having James healthy for the playoffs is far more important than even this critical stretch of the regular season, so the Lakers will surely not rush him back. Still, their position in the Western Conference standings is rather precarious at the moment, and any time away is also time that could be spent building more chemistry with Dončić.

For now, he won't be on the bench and with the team for the coming two games.