LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers will be taking on the Los Angeles Clippers tonight. As we approach the final few games of this season, the Lakers seem to have finally found some momentum and currently hold a record of 41 wins and 38 losses, giving them the 7th seed in the Western Conference.
They will be playing against the Clippers, who fans will remember took on Westbrook after the Lakers decided to trade him away. Perhaps this was the right move since both the Clippers and the Lakers have identical records at the moment in a competitive conference. Therefore, this will truly be an exciting match for fans to watch. That said, here are the injury reports, expected rosters, and predictions for this game between the Lakers and the Clippers.
LeBron James is available for the Los Angeles Lakers vs Los Angeles Clippers game tonight
Some fans will be aware that King James returned from a foot injury quite recently to his team. Although he looked sluggish initially, he has found is momentum and is slowly getting back into shape after a lengthy break. He suffered the injury when playing against the Mavs.
Lakers stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis are expected to be game-time decisions tonight vs. Clippers, per source.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 5, 2023
He seems to be back to the LeBron we remember. In their narrow overtime win against the Utah Jazz, James scored 37 points and led his team to victory. His foot seems to have gotten better as he is no longer listed on the injury report. Be that as it may, let us take a look at the availability status for the key players from each side.
Los Angeles Lakers injury report
- D’Angelo Russell (questionable)
- Mo Bamba (out)
- Scotty Pippen Jr (out)
Los Angeles Lakers expected roster
- Dennis Schroder
- Austin Reaves
- LeBron James
- Rui Hachimura
- Anthony Davis
Los Angeles Clippers injury report
- Paul George (out)
- Marcus Morris Sr (out)
- Eric Gordon (questionable)
Los Angeles Clippers expected roster
- Russell Westbrook
- Norman Powell
- Kawhi Leonard
- Nicolas Batum
- Ivica Zubac
As we can tell from the injury reports, important players from both sides aren’t expected to play in this game. Therefore, this match really won’t shine a light on how these teams stack up. Nonetheless, here are the expert predictions for this game.
The Lakers are slightly favored over the Clippers tonight
Although the Clippers have beaten the Lakers consistently in the past, we have to side with LeBron and his squad for tonight’s game. Even though this is expected to be a revenge game for Russell Westbrook against his former team, the Clippers are not expected to win tonight.
Not having PG will hurt them a lot more than not having Dlo will hurt the Lakers. It is also possible the Lakers know how to stop Russ since he used to play for them. The Lakers have better momentum and are healthier when compared to the Clippers. Therefore, they will be considered the favorites to win.