Lakers star LeBron James is expected to return for Friday’s road game vs. the Spurs after missing the last five with an adductor injury, per Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report/TNT.
The Lakers (5-11) have gone 3-2 in that stretch, with their three-game winning streak snapped Tuesday in Phoenix.
James took part in the non-contact portion of practice earlier this week, per Mike Bresnahan of Spectrum SportsNet, and has clearly done more since then.
James, 37, was forced to exit a loss to the Clippers on Nov. 9 with what the team initially called leg soreness. It happened with just less than 6 minutes left in the fourth quarter after he attempted to post up Clippers forward Paul George.
“I mean it’s just a lot of adversity,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said at the time. “[James] has been trying his heart out just to be there for us and play at a high level. I thought he had it going really, really well tonight. But it just is something that it’s the NBA season, man. You got to be ready for a little bit of everything.”
James is averaging 24.9 points through 10 games, his lowest scoring average since his rookie year of 2003-04. He is also shooting a career-worst 24 percent on 3-pointers, though clearly, the sample size is small.
Along with his scoring, he has compiled averages of 8.8 rebounds and 6.9 assists, both up from last season.
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