{"id":164799,"date":"2025-10-29T21:39:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T01:39:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=164799"},"modified":"2025-10-29T21:39:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T01:39:06","slug":"lakers-injury-update-key-players-lebron-james-luka-doncic-adou-thiero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/10\/29\/lakers-injury-update-key-players-lebron-james-luka-doncic-adou-thiero\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers HC JJ Redick Provides Injury Update For Key Players"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Los Angeles Lakers are 2-2 to start 2025-26. That&#8217;s hardly the record they want to have, as they&#8217;d be 4-0 if it were up to them. Even so, they&#8217;re playing at or above expectations considering the circumstances. To that point, four-time league MVP <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jamesle01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LeBron James<\/a> has yet to make his season debut as he continues to recover from nerve injuries. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/doncilu01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Luka Doncic<\/a>, who has taken James&#8217;s throne as the franchise&#8217;s king, has missed the past two games with a sprained finger.<\/p>\n<h2>Lakers: Important Injury Updates For LeBron James, Luka Doncic<\/h2>\n<p>On Wednesday, Lakers head coach JJ Redick provided important updates on James and Doncic&#8217;s health statuses.<\/p>\n<p>James, who didn&#8217;t suit up at all in the preseason, has no set return date. However, the team is targeting the second or third week of November for the debut of his record-breaking 23rd NBA season. This generally aligns with the original prognosis, as James was <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/10\/09\/lebron-james-enters-historic-23rd-season-career-first-injury-opener\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">expected to be out<\/a> until mid-November.<\/p>\n<p>Doncic, who started off the season <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/10\/26\/lakers-luka-doncic-sidelined-season-opening-masterclasses\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">running a clinic<\/a>, is day to day. The swelling in his finger was significant but it&#8217;s been improving, which they obviously consider a positive sign. With that being said, Doncic isn&#8217;t currently on the team&#8217;s two-game road trip, and may not be available against the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">He said the sprained finger on Doncic\u2019s left hand has gone from double its normal size to 1.5x its normal size, so that is progress. Said Doncic remains day to day. LAL plays Memphis on Friday and Doncic is not currently on the trip with the team. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Y352g09MAF\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/Y352g09MAF<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Dave McMenamin (@mcten) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mcten\/status\/1983687046972764339?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 30, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Thus, it appears as if L.A.&#8217;s offense will be in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/reaveau01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Austin Reaves<\/a>&#8216;s hand for at least one more night. Not that the Lakers have a problem with that, as the 27-year-old is averaging an eye-popping 35.8 points and 8.5 assists per game. On Sunday, he scored a career-high 51 points against the Sacramento Kings <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/10\/27\/four-takeaways-as-lakers-endure-rollercoaster-opening-week\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">in a historic affair<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>What&#8217;s Happening With Adou Thiero?<\/h3>\n<p>James and Doncic&#8217;s health will have the largest bearing on how far the Lakers are able to go this season. However, young players can be invaluable to a team&#8217;s championship aspirations, especially athletic defenders. That only adds to the intrigue surrounding <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/t\/thierad01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Adou Thiero<\/a>, who was selected 36th overall in the 2025 NBA Draft.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_164825\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-164825\" style=\"width: 2560px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-164825\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/10\/USATSI_25785463_168404789_lowres-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1770\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/10\/USATSI_25785463_168404789_lowres-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/10\/USATSI_25785463_168404789_lowres-300x207.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/10\/USATSI_25785463_168404789_lowres-1024x708.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/10\/USATSI_25785463_168404789_lowres-768x531.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/10\/USATSI_25785463_168404789_lowres-1536x1062.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/10\/USATSI_25785463_168404789_lowres-2048x1416.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-164825\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mar 27, 2025; San Francisco, CA, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders forward Darrion Williams (5) drives to the hoop past Arkansas Razorbacks forward Adou Thiero (3) during the first half during a West Regional semifinal of the 2025 NCAA tournament at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: Eakin Howard-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In yet another medical update, Los Angeles revealed that the 21-year-old forward has been cleared for contact drills after <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/10\/14\/lakers-promising-update-rookie-adou-thiero\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">experiencing swelling in his knee<\/a> prior to training camp (h\/t The Athletic&#8217;s Dan Woike). The next step will be getting him playing 5-on-5. With that in mind, the Lakers plan to integrate him into the team&#8217;s practice sessions over the next week.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Per the team<\/p>\n<p>LAKERS MEDICAL UPDATE<\/p>\n<p>Lakers forward Adou Thiero has been cleared for live on-court contact work. The next progression in his return-to-play process is participating in 5-on-5 activities. He will be integrated into team practice over the next week, including with\u2026 <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/gkqPB6W4aT\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/gkqPB6W4aT<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Dan Woike (@DanWoikeSports) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DanWoikeSports\/status\/1983684890131386671?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 29, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>In 2024-25, Thiero averaged 15.1 points 5.8 rebounds, 1.6 steals and 0.7 blocks per game for the Arkansas Razorbacks.<\/p>\n<div class=\"modal-image-setImageMetadata\">\n<p class=\"ng-binding\">\u00a9 Kirby Lee-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Los Angeles Lakers are 2-2 to start 2025-26. That&#8217;s hardly the record they want to have, as they&#8217;d be 4-0 if it were up to them. Even so, they&#8217;re playing at or above expectations considering the circumstances. To that point, four-time league MVP LeBron James has yet to make his season debut as he [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":164826,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26,1608,2,62,3],"tags":[50155,2279,38,1133,4745],"class_list":["post-164799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lakers","category-basketball","category-featured","category-nba","category-news","tag-adou-thiero","tag-jj-redick","tag-lebron-james","tag-luka-doncic","tag-nba-injuries"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164799"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":164828,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164799\/revisions\/164828"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}