LeBron James, wearing a plastic walking boot, a black hooded sweatshirt and a black mask, and Anthony Davis, in a lime green jacket and a bright yellow mask, were hard to miss on the edge in Los Angeles Lakers 111-94 loss to the Phoenix Suns on Sunday.
But Lakers goalkeeper Dennis Schroder said that as long as LA lacks the two stars in uniform, the Lakers need to completely reconsider their approach.
“I think I’ve played with the two of them on the field before, now it’s the complete opposite, I think,” Schroder said after the Lakers pursued up to 18 points and never led against the Suns. “I think we have to move the ball, we have to play with more rhythm. In the defensive end, we have to be more miserable. And, yes, I mean that everyone who comes on the floor must have the confidence to beat down the shot or to impact the game on the defensive end. “
When asked who would have called for leadership during James’ indeterminate absence from a sprained right ankle and while Davis is locked up for another week with a calf strain and tendinosis in his right foot, Lakers coach Frank Vogel, Schroder mentioned.
“Obviously, Dennis Schroder will be the head of the snake with the ball in his hands the most, dictating part of the action,” Vogel said after the 27-year-old, acquired in a deal with the Oklahoma City Thunder during the off-season, had 22 points and three assists on Sunday. “But we have a lot of veteran guys on this team who can lead and we encourage our boys to lead from every seat in the room.”
Including James’ chair, which was adjacent to the Phoenix Suns Arena bench.
“He tells me he cares about this organization,” Schroder said of the fact that James joined the team’s flight just hours after undergoing an MRI and X-ray on his ankle. “In my career, I’ve seen people injured and they don’t come on a trip; and for him, being the best – one of the best who’ve ever played this game – you see him on the bench being there, even if he’s injured, it means a lot much to me and to everyone else [players on this team] also.”
Schroder could take the reins on the field for a while. Vogel allowed high ankle sprains to usually take “a while to heal … These are slow recoveries.”
With the NBA’s compact program due to COVID-19, even if James had had a relatively quick rehabilitation process and missed three to four weeks, it would mean another 13 to 16 games without him for a team that fell to 0-2 when you don’t play.
LA is trying to find the silver lining in the meantime. Vogel declared himself “optimistic” based on how the Lakers competed against the Suns, team no. 2 of the Western Conference. Schroder went so far as to say that playing without co-captains is “great for everyone else,” because they can “prove to teammates and the organization that they can play.”
And Vogel pointed out that some free time for a 36-year-old guy playing in his 18th season, which started just 71 days after the end of the 17th season, it couldn’t be a bad thing for James.
“We encourage him to take a mental break and recharge a little mentally, so that when he comes back we’ll be in a stretch where we can push into the playoffs and make some noise, obviously, entering the playoffs.” Vogel said about James.
The thought of a mentally and physically fresh James to join the team may be a comfort to LA – after all, he led him to the championship after a 4½ month break last season – but there is still an immediate challenge with who will face the Lakers. in the meantime.
“We try to play as much as we can, to play in the right way and [we’re] He will still come out on top, “said Montrezl Harrell, the Lakers’ big man. We just have to keep it pressed while these guys recover and come back. “