Is LeBron James playing tonight? Lakers injury update vs Bulls

The Los Angeles Lakers have gotten themselves above .500 and await LeBron James’ return from injury. Will he play on Sunday?

The Los Angeles Lakers hit .500 earlier this week and sit 37-37 with just eight games left to go in their season. As it stands, they’ll have a chance to play into the NBA playoffs, as they’ll qualify for the play-in game since they own the eighth seed.

They also don’t sit very far out from the sixth seed, which would earn them a beth into the postseason without having to participate in the play-in game(s). Right now the Warriors, with 36 losses, hold the sixth spot. Ahead of them is the Clippers (36 losses) and Suns (35 losses).

One concern for LA is only three of their remaining games are at home. The Lakers have a five-game road trip left to carry out, but one of those is against the LA Clippers who play in the same building as the Lakers. LA has a .553 win percentage at home and .444 on the road.

If that holds to close the season, they’ll end up between 3 and 4 wins, likely landing right around .500.

Obviously, a big hold-up has been LeBron James, who has been out with injury since February 26th with a foot injury. He has missed 13 straight games, in which the Lakers have gone 8-5.

Is LeBron James playing tonight vs Chicago Bulls?

According to the injury report at around noon eastern time, LeBron James has been upgraded to questionable against the Chicago Bulls. Tip-off is slated for 3:30 p.m. Eastern.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski added a little bit of extra context, reporting that James will test his foot during pregame shootaround. James and the Lakers will make a decision from there.

This is overall great news for the Lakers. James appears close to returning, and should be back on Sunday or, at the very least, at some point during the road trip, barring another sizable setback. Having him back for the final regular season push is extremely important.

James has played just three games with the new-look Lakers who acquired D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley, and Jarred Vanderbilt at the NBA trade deadline.

UPDATE: LeBron still a game-time decision after shootaround

According to Mike Trudell, James will be a game-time decision after warmups.

He was seen jogging around the court pregame:

UPDATE: LeBron is available to play vs Bulls on Sunday

According to various reporters, LeBron James is available to go after testing his foot in pregame shootaround.