DENVER — LeBron James didn’t hold back from his retorts over his late-in-the-game elbow injury Thursday night against the Denver Nuggets.
The 41-year-old Lakers star, who broke the NBA all-time field goals record in the Lakers’ 120-113 defeat, left the ground on a driving layup and absorbed contact from Nikola Jokic and tumbled under the basket into the row of photographers. James immediately grabbed at his left elbow – as officials deemed there wasn’t a foul on the play – and remained out of action as Denver guard Julian Strawther earned a trip to the line at the other end before Lakers coach JJ Redick could sub James out of the game.
“It’s the same [expletive]: ‘Marginal,’” James said after the game when asked if he received an explanation as to why Jokic didn’t get called for a foul. “It’s the same [expletive]. It’s, it’s, it’s … whatever. That’s all they keep saying is, ‘marginal.’ I’m so [expletive] tired of that word. It doesn’t make no sense.”
Scoring 16 points on 7-for-11 shooting on Thursday, James would return to the floor for the final two minutes of the game, toughing out what he called a sore elbow and a “super intense” funny bone sensation as the Lakers attempted to mount a comeback. On Friday, ahead of the second half of the back-to-back set at home against the Indiana Pacers, the Lakers announced that James would be out with a left elbow contusion – a blow to the Lakers who had yet to miss one of their star trio for a game since the All-Star break concluded.
“We’ll see what happens over the next couple days,” James said after the game. “Hopefully I’ll wake up tomorrow and (my elbow) doesn’t feel too much worse than it is now. Or, if it feels better, that would be great. So, it’s day-to-day, we’ll see what happens.”
The Lakers have an 11-7 record this season without James, averaging 114.7 points per game and 49.2% shooting from the field.
Center Deandre Ayton, who left Thursday’s game after just over four minutes with left knee soreness, is also unavailable to play the Pacers, the Lakers announced. Backup post Maxi Kleber will also miss his second consecutive game, having his injury diagnosis switched from back soreness to a lumbar back strain, per Friday’s league-mandated status report.
Redick said after the game Thursday that he was “very confident” in backup center Jaxson Hayes’ ability to start should the opportunity arise. Hayes tallied 19 points in the Lakers’ loss to the Nuggets.
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