Los Angeles Lakers

If LeBron James is playing through injuries in the playoffs, he's making sure no one knows anything about it.

Asked by reporters about his groin and hip issues, James would only say "I'm available today" as the Los Angeles Lakers prepare to play Game 3 against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night.

James suffered a strained groin in the fourth quarter of the Lakers' loss to the Boston Celtics on March 8. He wound up missing the next seven games before returning to the lineup on March 22.

There was concern that James aggravated his groin or hip in a 140-109 win over the Houston Rockets on April 11. He was removed midway through the third quarter and appeared to be favoring his left side.

Even though James didn't return to the game, head coach JJ Redick said afterward his star forward was "fine." Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times added the Lakers people he spoke with afterward weren't concerned about any injury issue.

In a video recorded by ESPN's Dave McMenamin, James was seen wearing a sleeve on his left leg during Lakers practice on April 16.

The Lakers officially listed James as probable on their injury report prior to Game 1 against the Timberwolves. He was off the injury report for Game 2.

James hasn't played up to his usual standards thus far in the series. The future Hall of Famer is averaging 20.0 points on 43.2 percent shooting (16-of-37 overall; 2-of-10 from three-point range), 8.0 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 3.0 turnovers per game.

This continues a trend that was going on in the regular season after James returned from the initial injury. He shot 48.7 percent overall in his final 12 games, including a 32.7 percent success rate from behind the arc.

Prior to the injury, James was shooting 51.7 percent from the field and 38.4 percent from three in 58 starts.

If this is the version of James that the Lakers are going to get throughout the postseason, they may have a tough time winning games. Their formula for success was built around James, Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves being an unstoppable offensive trio.

Los Angeles has only scored 189 points in two games against the Timberwolves. The series is tied 1-1 because Minnesota's offense was abysmal in Game 2, scoring just 85 points on 38.0 percent shooting.

The Lakers and Timberwolves will play Game 3 at Target Center on Friday night at 9:30 p.m. ET.

If it has felt like LeBron James is struggling to make as much of an impact for the Los Angeles Lakers in their playoff series against the Minnesota Timberwolves thus far, there's a very good reason for that.

Per ESPN's Dave McMenamin, the Timberwolves' planning for this matchup involved limiting James in transition and force him to work a lot in the halfcourt with the belief he will "tire" himself out over the course of a long series.

James has scored 40 points on 16-of-37 shooting through the first two games against Minnesota. It's his fewest two-game point total to start a postseason series since the first round of the 2020 playoffs against the Portland Trail Blazers (33).

The shooting has been a concern since James returned from a groin injury on March 22. He shot 48.7 percent overall (32.7 percent from three) in his final 12 regular-season games.

While that percentage would be good for most players, it's down three full points from what James was shooting in 58 games before the injury (51.7 percent). He was also shooting 38.4 percent from three during that span.

It's no secret that getting James in the open court is dangerous for opposing teams. McMenamin noted he averaged 6.0 points per game in transition during the regular season, sixth-best in the NBA.

Luka Dončić is a wizard with an outlet pass and it worked great in the regular season, but Minnesota is working hard to limit those quick buckets. Through two games in this series, James has just two points in transition.

James is a physical marvel, but he's also 40 years old and not the same level of athlete he was at his very best. A team capable of playing hard defense and containing him in the half-court game can have success.

The Timberwolves will keep going with their plan until the Lakers prove it's not going to work.

Los Angeles' offense as a whole has been ugly so far with 189 total points in two games, including 36 in the second half of Game 2. The Lakers were able to get a win in that game because Minnesota's offense was worse, shooting just 38.0 percent overall and 5-of-25 from behind the arc.

After splitting the first two games in Los Angeles, the Lakers and Timberwolves will play Game 3 on Friday night at the Target Center with the winner taking control of the series.

The first Los Angeles Lakers jersey that Kobe Bryant wore during his NBA career sold for $7 million at a Sotheby's auction on Thursday, per Will Stern of cllct.

According to Sotheby's, it set a new world record for any Bryant memorabilia sold at auction.

That was the second-highest price for an NBA jersey ever, trailing only the $10.1 million that Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls jersey from Game 1 of the 1998 NBA Finals sold for previously.

"What I've noticed over the last 18 months is the demand for Kobe, the rate of growth, I think is actually outpacing Jordan," Sotheby’s SVP and head of modern collectables, Brahm Wachter, told Stern. "I think Kobe touched a lot of people and I think a lot of people can take the Mamba mentality... and I think a lot of executives can relate to him."

Per Stern, Thursday's sale was the seventh-most expensive piece of sports memorabilia sold in history.

Bryant wore the jersey for his NBA debut on Nov. 3, 1996, against the Minnesota Timberwolves. After being listed as a DNP in the Lakers' first game of the 1996-97 season, Bryant went scoreless in just over six minutes of action while attempting one shot.

Kobe went on to win five NBA titles with the Lakers and sits fourth on the NBA's all-time scoring list.

Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick wants to see more "thrust" and "pace" on offense from his team when they resume their first-round NBA playoff series with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

"The tape showed we weren't very good offensively," Redick told reporters on Thursday.

There was a night and day difference between the Lakers' defense between Games 1 and 2. Los Angeles couldn't cope with the Timberwolves' physicality in the opener and also watched Minnesota hit 21 three-pointers. On Tuesday night, the Wolves shot 38 percent overall and were just 5-of-25 from beyond the arc.

The Lakers didn't have a great offensive showing, though. They finished with 94 points, including just 13 in the final quarter. Luka Dončić and LeBron James combined (52 points) to account for more than half of their overall output.

On a lot of nights in the postseason, shooting 6-of-29 on threes won't cut it.

By and large, though, Lakers fans are feeling much better now than they were in the immediate aftermath of the 22-point loss in Game 1. Redick and his staff made some necessary adjustments.

More is still required in order for the team to be firing on all cylinders.

Given the stark contrast between the first two contests, Game 3 on Friday night could provide a strong indicator as to which of Minnesota or Los Angeles is truly in the driver's seat in the series.

Doug Gottlieb doubled down on some of his positions regarding LeBron and Bronny James during a Wednesday appearance on the Dan Patrick Show (seven-minute mark).

The head coach of the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay men's basketball team said, "I never went after LeBron, that's bull crap."

He also admitted that previous comments suggesting the younger James wouldn't have started for the Phoenix were incorrect even though he still disagrees with the USC product playing in the NBA this season.

"In hindsight, yeah he probably would have started," Gottlieb said. "… The mid-major level is where he should have gone. I stand by that. He should have gone to Duquesne for a year and played for LeBron's best friend, gotten his confidence."

Bronny James played one season at USC and averaged just 4.8 points per game before the Lakers used a second-round pick on him in the 2024 NBA draft.

"This has been such a dog and pony show, and LeBron's gone around the country chastising Stephen A. Smith and tweeting me for no reason because all I've ever done is be honest," Gottlieb continued. "Sorry, I saw your son play in the Mission League. He was not one of the 10 best high school players in that league."

In February, James took to social media to mock Gottlieb's losing streak in his first season as a head coach:

As Robert Marvi of USA Today's LeBron Wire explained, Gottlieb previously made a number of critical comments about Bronny James being on the Lakers and said the Purple and Gold were treating him "like he's a Make-A-Wish kid."

He also criticized King James when Bronny was assigned to G League games but only when the team was playing at home.

"This toxicity is based upon one guy," Gottlieb said. "And LeBron is a good father, is a good parent, but he's a bad basketball parent because he's making people elevate his kid to a level that his skill is not close to being at."

There was also some back-and-forth between LeBron and ESPN's Smith regarding how the analyst talked about Bronny James that even included a confrontation courtside at a Lakers game. Both parties also addressed the situation in the aftermath.

The younger James appeared in just 27 games in his rookie season and averaged 2.3 points a night. He was an afterthought in the Lakers' rotation and didn't look like someone with a particularly bright NBA future.

As for Gottlieb, his team was an abysmal 4-28 in his first season as head coach.

The Phoenix went 18-14 in 2023-24 before he arrived.

Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James is no stranger to difficult playoff series, but one hard-fought battle stands out above the rest.

During Wednesday's episode of the Mind the Game podcast (2:00 mark), James told his co-host Steve Nash that the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals against the Boston Celtics when he was with the Miami Heat was the most "exhausting" playoff series of his legendary career.

"We go down 3-2 after losing a home game, going into Boston, which is one of the places that you just don't want to be going there for a close-out game," James said. "For us to be able to go in there in Game 6, and we know what happened in Game 6, and for us to be able to come back to South Beach and win a Game 7... they just brought so much out of you, not only from a physical toll, but from a mental standpoint, too, because they had so many guys out there that can do so many things."

James dropped 45 points and 15 rebounds at TD Garden to lead the Heat past the Celtics in Game 6 for one of the defining moments of his career. After Miami won Game 7 at home, the team went on to defeat the Oklahoma City Thunder in five games in the NBA Finals for James' first career NBA championship.

Still, getting past that Boston squad brings up tough memories for James. The team featured the vaunted Big 3 of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, but James said he considered it a Big 4 because point guard Rajon Rondo "was so damn good as well." The victory was satisfying for James, but the battle scars still remain.

"At the end of that series, you was just like, (deep sigh) I just want to sleep," he said. "And I know I'm not going to be able to. But yeah, it just takes so much out of you mentally."

Despite Nico Harrison's attempts to downplay the significance of the Luka Dončić trade, he's still having a difficult time finding anyone who will publicly support the move.

As part of their annual poll of 150 NBA players about key storylines from the regular season, The Athletic's Sam Amick and Josh Robbins sought opinions about the shocking deal that sent Dončić from the Dallas Mavericks to the Los Angeles Lakers.

One player described the trade as "probably the worst decision in modern basketball history."

It's extremely rare, particularly in this era that we live in, to find a unanimous opinion about anything. This trade is the one thing that everyone seems to agree was a disaster of epic proportions for the Mavericks.

USA Today's Jeff Zillgitt offered probably the nicest perspective on the deal for Dallas, writing the team did get a star player in return (Anthony Davis) who improves the defense and Max Christie "developed into a starter with an improving 3-point game."

Any other outlet that offered a grade on the deal was asking some variation of "what are the Mavericks doing?"

B/R's Andy Bailey graded the Mavs' side of the trade as an F, pointing out their defense ranked in the 81st percentile in the NBA this season when Dončić was on the floor.

Others who gave the Mavericks' portion of the trade a failing grade include ESPN's Kevin Pelton and CBS Sports' Brad Botkin.

Harrison's public attempts to explain the trade has been him constantly falling back on the phrase "defense wins championships." He put his foot in his mouth again on Monday, telling reporters he "didn't quite know to what level" Dončić meant to the Mavericks fanbase.

Even though the Feb. 2 trade seemed to come out of nowhere, ESPN's Tim MacMahon noted things "truly began to disintegrate" between Dončić and the Mavs in the summer of 2023 due to differing opinions about the training and medical staff, as well as injury recovery practices.

The Lakers have been more than happy to benefit from Dallas' desire to move on from Dončić. They finished 21-13 in 34 games after the trade and earned the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference, in addition to knowing they have a 26-year-old cornerstone player to build around going forward.

Dallas, meanwhile, saw its season come to an end with a 120-106 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies in the play-in tournament. The team is also entering a summer in which Kyrie Irving, who tore his ACL on March 3, can become a free agent by opting out of his contract.

Even though Harrison has expressed confidence Irving will still be with the Mavericks next season, the timeline for a torn ACL suggests he could miss a significant portion of the regular season regardless of which team he is playing for.

After bouncing back with a crucial Game 2 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves to even the Western Conference playoff series, Luka Dončić knows the Los Angeles Lakers are heading into hostile territory with things shifting to Target Center.

Speaking to reporters following Tuesday's 94-85 victory, Dončić explained it's on him and LeBron James to help the Lakers stay "together" to avoid being overwhelmed by Timberwolves fans.

"Going into Minnesota is going to be a war," Dončić said. "The fans are going to be cheering like crazy. So no matter what, we can't panic. We got to stay together. And that's on me and Bron to keep the team together."

Offense remains an issue for the Lakers in the playoffs, but their defense stepped up in a big way compared to Game 1. The Timberwolves opened the series scoring 117 points on 21-of-42 three-point shooting.

Regression hit the T-Wolves hard on Tuesday night, as they were just 5-of-25 from behind the arc. Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle were the only players to score in double-figures, combining for 52 of the team's 85 points.

The Lakers have been held under 100 points in back-to-back games for the first time since Dec. 2-4. They had enough offense in Game 2 thanks in large part to Dončić, who finished with 31 points.

More important for the Lakers, though, was Dončić's passing looked much better. After tying his playoff career-low with one assist in Game 1, the five-time All-Star had nine assists on Tuesday night.

James also played much better, putting up 21 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists. He's still trying to find a shooting rhythm in the series, making just eight of 19 field-goal attempts in Game 2.

This series was expected to be a slugfest between two of the most physical teams in the NBA. It has lived up to that billing, with Tuesday being the lowest scoring game of the entire postseason so far.

Dončić knows Minnesota well since that was where he ripped the heart out of Timberwolves fans in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals last season with his go-ahead three in the final seconds over Rudy Gobert.

The Lakers will be hoping to get that type of performance from Dončić in Game 3 on Friday as they look to take control of the series.

Austin Reaves took ownership after a rough performance in a loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first game of the Los Angeles Lakers' first-round series on Saturday.

"I played s--tty," he told reporters Monday. "I wasn't myself. To what the reason was, I don't know. I just got to go out there and be myself, play my game and have fun doing it."

Reaves had 16 points, three assists and three boards in the 117-95 loss to the Wolves, shooting 38.5 percent from the field and 37.5 percent from deep.

The fourth-year player had the best regular season of his career, putting up 20.2 points, 5.8 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game, all of which were career highs. While he had an off night on Saturday, he should be able to bounce back strong and play more like himself on Tuesday.

But Reaves was far from the only problem for the Lakers on Saturday.

Aside from Luka Dončić, who had 37 points, it was a cold offensive night for everyone. LeBron James had 19 points and just three assists, shooting just 8-of-18 from the field and 1-of-5 from deep. The Lakers had just three players in double figures and shot 39.8 percent from the field and 36.6 percent from deep.

On the defensive side, Los Angeles allowed the Timberwolves anything they wanted. Jaden McDaniels led the way for Minnesota with 25, Naz Reid added 23 and Anthony Edwards posted 22. The Wolves shot a scorching hot 51.2 percent from the field and 50 percent from deep.

It's a bit unrealistic to expect Minnesota to shoot 50 or better from deep for four straight games, but the Lakers will need to make some adjustments to avoid going down 2-0 in the series on Tuesday.