Lakers' Redick: LeBron James, Hachimura, Hayes 'Very Close' to Return from Injuries

Having lost a season-high four straight games, the injury-riddled Los Angeles Lakers could be getting reinforcements soon.

Head coach JJ Redick told reporters prior to Friday's game against the Denver Nuggets that LeBron James, Rui Hachimura and Jaxson Hayes are all "very close" to returning.

The question posed to Redick was whether all three of those players would be able to return within the next seven days, so his lack of specificity could be an attempt to hedge just in case it takes longer than that.

James' status is obviously the top priority for the Lakers. He suffered a groin injury in the fourth quarter of their 111-101 loss to the Boston Celtics on March 8.

ESPN's Shams Charania reported the expectation is James would be out for one to two weeks, which would put him on track to return at the end of next week at the latest.

Hayes has missed four games due to a knee injury. Hachimura has been out of action since Feb. 28 with a knee injury of his own.

Redick told reporters on Thursday that both Hayes and Hachimura are considered day-to-day moving forward.

The Lakers played Friday's game against the Nuggets extremely shorthanded. In addition to that trio of injured starters, Luka Dončić, Dorian Finney-Smith and Gabe Vincent were also held out on the second night of a back-to-back.

This losing streak has dropped the Lakers from second in the Western Conference standings to fifth. They are only one game back of the Houston Rockets and Memphis Grizzlies, who are tied for fourth with identical 42-25 records.

Prior to James' injury, the Lakers were one of the hottest teams in the NBA. They had won eight straight and 14 of 16 games since Jan. 30.

The Lakers are 8-3 with both James and Dončić in the lineup together. They will return to Los Angeles to begin a five-game homestand starting on Sunday against the Phoenix Suns.