LeBron James has led the Los Angeles Lakers to a strong run ahead of Saturday’s game against the struggling Sacramento Kings, a team dealing with changes after head coach Mike Brown was fired on Friday.
James, who is playing his final game before turning 40, has helped the Lakers win four of their last five games, including a thrilling 115-113 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Christmas Day. In that game, he scored 31 points and added 10 assists.
Although James will celebrate his 40th birthday on Monday, he is still playing at a high level, averaging 23.5 points per game, along with 7.9 rebounds and 9.0 assists this season. The four-time MVP has only averaged nine or more assists per game twice in his 21 seasons.
James also led the Lakers to a win over the Warriors on Wednesday despite Anthony Davis leaving the game early with an ankle injury. Austin Reaves stepped up, recording 26 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists for his first triple-double of the season and third of his career. Reaves scored the game-winning layup with 1.7 seconds left.
“It’s always difficult to play without A.D., so I guess our job is even more heightened,” James said. “We have to do a little bit more. Everyone has to chip in, especially on the defensive end because A.D. is our anchor.”
Davis’ status for Saturday’s game is uncertain, which means the Lakers may be without his 25.7 points and 11.4 rebounds. Guard D’Angelo Russell is expected to return after missing the Christmas Day game due to a sprained left thumb.
While Davis is listed as questionable, both James and Rui Hachimura missed Friday’s practice due to illness.
In Doug Christie’s first game as interim head coach, the Kings are facing their own availability issues. Domantas Sabonis missed Thursday’s 114-113 loss to the Detroit Pistons because of illness and didn’t practice on Friday.
The Kings also have to deal with the absence of Brown, who was fired after just over two seasons in Sacramento, with the team sitting 12th in the Western Conference with a 13-18 record.
Without Sabonis on Thursday, the Kings seemed to be on track for a win but lost after Detroit’s Jaden Ivey made a go-ahead four-point play with 3.1 seconds left. De’Aaron Fox, who fouled Ivey on the decisive 3-pointer, led the Kings with 26 points.
The Kings allowed 37 points in the fourth quarter and were outscored by 15 in the period. Their struggles on both ends of the floor were too much for Brown to overcome, leading to his firing.
Brown, who conducted Friday’s practice, was dismissed just before the team was set to fly to Los Angeles. Last season, he led the Kings to the playoffs, ending a 16-year postseason drought.
Sacramento’s issues were clear when they led by 19 points in the third quarter on Thursday but allowed Detroit to make 7 of 12 (58.3 percent) from 3-point range in the final period.
“We knew this was a game that was winnable,” Fox said. “We gave ourselves a chance to win going into the fourth quarter and we didn’t do a good job. We gotta be able to finish games better.”
The Kings are currently on a five-game losing streak, which includes two losses to the Lakers last week. The most recent of those losses was a 103-99 defeat on Dec. 21.
This losing streak is the longest for Sacramento since a seven-game slide in January 2022.
