The Los Angeles Lakers are starting to deal with concerning injuries at the wrong time, with multiple players popping up on the injury report ahead of Thursday’s game against the Chicago Bulls.
Along with superstar forward LeBron James missing the last three games and expected to be a. game-time decision against the Bulls, the Lakers won’t have Jaxson Hayes, Maxi Kleber or Marcus Smart available to play on Thursday.
Marcus Smart, Jaxson Hayes & Maxi Kleber Could Miss Some Time
JJ Redick says the team hopes to have Marcus Smart (hip) available against Denver on Saturday. He added that Jaxson Hayes received imaging on his back, and the team is awaiting results. And that Maxi Kleber will miss some more time as he deals with his recurring lumbar issue.
Fortunately, the Lakers have been able to get through the last three games without James and come away with three wins, resulting in the team moving up the Western Conference standings.
However, it remains to be seen whether the team can keep playing at a high level if injuries continue to pile up, especially considering the tough schedule ahead in the final games of the 2025-26 NBA regular season.
Tough Schedule Ahead for LA
The Lakers face an absolutely brutal stretch to finish out their regular-season schedule, with the team set to take on the Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets (twice), Miami Heat, Orlando Magic, Detroit Pistons, Cleveland Cavaliers, Oklahoma City Thunder (twice) and the Phoenix Suns before the NBA playoffs get underway on April 18.
It doesn’t get much tougher than that while trying to secure a high seed in the West before the playoffs. The conference is extremely tight right now, with the majority of the teams in playoff contention, outside of the Thunder and San Antonio Spurs, in danger of falling to the Play-In Tournament, which obviously isn’t ideal.
Heading into Thursday’s game against the Bulls, the Lakers are sitting in fourth place in the West, ahead of the Nuggets, Timberwolves and Suns. Even the Los Angeles Clippers are starting to get a little frisky, as Kawhi Leonard and company have won six of their last 10 games and three in a row.
There is no margin for error for the Lakers moving forward, which is what makes these injuries so concerning and something to monitor on a daily basis, especially with Smart being the team’s best perimeter defender and Hayes starting to play at a high level while contributing on both ends of the floor.
It’ll be interesting to see how things pan out for the Lakers and where the team ultimately lands in the playoff picture in the West.
