LeBron James' Ankle Injury Could Cost Lakers' Play-In Tournament Spot

The Los Angeles Lakers are in trouble.

Los Angeles is in a tough spot to make the play-in tournament, never mind the playoffs, and things got a whole lot tougher when the Lakers lost to the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday night.

The Lakers are now just a game ahead of the San Antonio Spurs, who have won three straight games and play the Houston Rockets on Monday night. To make matters worse, LeBron James injured his ankle in the Lakers' loss on Sunday, and there's a chance he could be limited or miss time.

"I mean, I have no idea how I finished the game, to be honest, after watching that replay," James said. "It's pretty nasty."

When asked if he may miss games, James did offer an optimistic response, but the Lakers have sat their superstar out on other occasions this season as he's dealt with ankle and knee ailments.

"I hope not," James said. "S---. I hope not, because I hate missing games. That's not in my nature."

With Anthony Davis already out, the Lakers cannot afford to lose James, who has put up gaudy numbers all season long, especially given their strength of schedule down the stretch.

Lakers' Remaining Schedule Is Bad Sign for Their Playoff Hopes

According to Tankathon, the Lakers have the second hardest remaining schedule in the NBA, behind only the Memphis Grizzlies.

Los Angeles has to face the Phoenix Suns, Golden State Warriors, Dallas Mavericks and Utah Jazz all once. Those are four of the top five teams in the Western Conference. Not only that, but the Lakers have two remaining games against the Denver Nuggets, who are fighting to hold on to the No. 6 seed in the West.

The Lakers' two "easier" games remaining are against the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Pelicans, who just beat them on Sunday. That's an absolute juggernaut of a schedule, and I'm not very confident that the Lakers can get through it, even if James is able to play.

Right now, WynnBET Sportsbook has the Lakers at +3000 to win the Western Conference, which is way too high for a team that very well could miss the play-in.

As for the Spurs and Pelicans, they rank 13th and 23rd respectively in remaining schedule strength, and since they hold the tiebreaker on the Lakers, they just need to play one game better than Los Angeles to get into the field.

We've seen LeBron put teams on his back before, but this year simply hasn't allowed for him to do that. The Lakers don't have the supporting cast around James for him to single-handedly win games, and I'd fade the Lakers as a playoff contender in the final weeks of the season.

Find Peter Dewey’s full betting record in the NBA this season here.