{"id":725780,"date":"2026-04-13T20:56:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T20:56:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/725780\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T20:56:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T20:56:13","slug":"lebron-james-must-try-to-carry-yet-another-team-to-playoff-success-with-lakers-doncic-reaves-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/725780\/","title":{"rendered":"LeBron James must try to carry yet another team to playoff success with Lakers’ Doncic, Reaves out"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES<\/strong> \u2013 LeBron James probably thought he was done playing this particular role.<\/p>\n

After so many seasons in which James valiantly carried otherwise ordinary teams to extraordinary achievements, the greatest scorer in NBA history<\/a> was not even the Los Angeles Lakers’ focal point this year. Down the stretch of his first full season alongside Luka Doncic, the 41-year-old James became a supporting player of sorts while Doncic drove the Lakers\u2019 offense and rising star Austin Reaves thrived.<\/p>\n

This dynamic worked superbly while the Lakers made a 16-2 surge through March, winning the Pacific Division and prompting many to wonder if they could even conjure a challenge to Oklahoma City or San Antonio this spring.<\/p>\n

And then Doncic (hamstring)<\/a> and Reaves (oblique)<\/a> both went down in the Lakers’ first game of April<\/a> with significant injuries likely to sideline them for several weeks.<\/p>\n

Just like that, James is alone in the spotlight once again this month, the Lakers’ faint postseason hopes resting on a 23-year NBA veteran who has already done it all.<\/p>\n

When Los Angeles hosts the Houston Rockets<\/a> in its playoff opener Saturday night, James will attempt yet another improbable feat in a career full of them: Keeping the Lakers alive long enough for Doncic and Reaves to return.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had to tap back into a role that I\u2019ve been accustomed to in the past, but obviously wasn\u2019t what it was this year,\u201d James said. \u201cCircumstances have put me back in here, and I\u2019m just trying to feed off my teammates (while my) teammates feed off of me. Trying to make things happen for us to continue to stay afloat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, this would be a daunting challenge for almost any player except James. After he racked up 26 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds while the Lakers beat Golden State<\/a> last week, he was asked what his team needs from him without its two top scorers.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything,\u201d James said. \u201cSo nothing changes for me. Just back to the old ways.”<\/p>\n

James has spent the majority of his basketball life lifting up the players around him. Even after he left Cleveland the first time to relieve that burden by forming the Miami Heat’s super-team, he went home again after four years and spent four more seasons carrying the Cavaliers to four straight NBA Finals against Golden State \u2014 most famously stretching the 2015 series to six games without Kyrie Irving or Kevin Love, followed by leading Cleveland’s epic rally from a 3-1 series deficit to win the 2016 title.<\/p>\n

Here in the present, the Lakers realize their promising season has probably been sabotaged by unlucky injuries. Doncic, who led the NBA in scoring, has traveled to Spain in hopes of finding some medical way to get back on the court sooner, while Reaves is almost certainly out for at least the first round.<\/p>\n

But with James in their lineup, Lakers coach JJ Redick will always feel they’ve got a chance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to need him to facilitate, and we\u2019re going to need him to score,\u201d Redick said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to need him to defend and rebound. I think he recognizes the task at hand, and he\u2019s very locked in. He\u2019s played great.\u201d<\/p>\n

All three of the Lakers’ stars have had injury problems this season, and they only got extensive playing time together recently. James missed training camp and the first 14 games of the regular season last fall after developing sciatica, yet he has played in 60 of the ensuing 68 games for Los Angeles, including five back-to-back sets.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had not a good season, not a great \u2014 he had a remarkable season, all things considered,\u201d Redick said. \u201cYou take away the fact that he\u2019s in his 23rd year, and he\u2019s 41 years old, he had a remarkable season. The fact that those things are real, and they\u2019re very real in terms of the day-to-day management, it\u2019s unbelievable what he did this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

James’ numbers reflect only slight concessions to his age and his lessened workload behind Doncic and Reaves: His 20.9 points per game were his fewest since his rookie year in 2003-04, while his 33.2 minutes per game were his lowest ever.<\/p>\n

Yet when he’s in the spotlight, James still delivers with remarkable frequency. He finished the regular season by averaging 24.0 points, 9.7 assists, 6.0 rebounds and 3.0 steals in three Lakers victories to secure homecourt advantage in the first round.<\/p>\n

James was named the Western Conference\u2019s player of the week Monday for the 70th time \u2014 more than any other two players in NBA history combined.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust trying to squeeze as much of the juice as I can, until it\u2019s as dry as it can be for me,\u201d James said. \u201cI\u2019ve been given an opportunity to play the game that I love, and tried to do it at a high level, and I\u2019ve tried to commit to it, and the game has given back to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/NBA<\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES \u2013 LeBron James probably thought he was done playing this particular role. After so many seasons…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":725781,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[17378,42240,36085,11018,3363,3365,1260,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-725780","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-austin-reaves","9":"tag-j-j-redick","10":"tag-kevin-love","11":"tag-kyrie-irving","12":"tag-lebron-james","13":"tag-luka-doncic","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116399399705501189","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=725780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725780\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/725781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=725780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=725780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=725780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}