LeBron, Lakers' unlucky season crossing the line into laughable

LeBron James couldn’t help but laugh.

He had just suffered a groin injury that forced him to gingerly walk off the court midway through the fourth quarter of Wednesday’s 114-101 loss to the Clippers. And his team had just fallen dangerously close to the cellar of the league, only a half-game ahead of the Houston Rockets, the team that holds that ignoble position.

So, when a reporter began a question by pointing out that the Lakers are in a tough spot with a 2-9 record, James delivered an interjection of his own.

“Really?” he asked, flashing a smile that devolved into a chuckle. “Captain obvious.”

Things went from bad to worse for the Lakers, when James apparently suffered the injury while posting up on Paul George. He limped off the court with 5:41 left and didn’t return.

“I didn’t do anything extraneous on the play,” James said. “Just when I landed, I felt a little spasm or strain in my groin.”

James will be evaluated Thursday by team doctors and will undergo imaging to determine the severity of the injury. The good news is he said “it’s not as bad” as the torn left groin he suffered on Christmas in 2018 that sidelined him for 17 consecutive games.

In fact, James hopes he won’t miss any time.

“I’ll go around [the clock] treatment for 24 hours, and if it’s OK on Friday, I’ll be in the lineup,” he said.

It was the latest blow for a team that seemingly has a setback any time it has a minor breakthrough. It’s as if the Lakers are in a constant state of playing whack-a-mole.

As soon as Russell Westbrook started looking comfortable as a sixth man, James’ shooting went cold and Anthony Davis became inconsistent. And when James got his touch back Wednesday, scoring 30 points in 32 minutes, he then suffered the injury.

Now the Lakers are steeling themselves for the possibility of playing without James, a daunting task for a team that can’t even figure out how to play with him.

“For me, the mindset switches to just going out, being aggressive and trying to find ways to help the team win — whether it’s more shots or know[ing] it’s my job to make these guys better,” said Davis, who had 21 points and nine rebounds. “It’s my job anyway. But it’s heightened when someone like LeBron is out with everything he can do on the floor.”

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There’s not much going right for the Lakers this season.

They have the worst offensive rating in the league (103.2), along with the worst 3-point shooting percentage (29.1). And their defensive rating has slipped from the best in the league to 13th (110.9).

On Wednesday, the Lakers showed some fight, clawing their way back from a 17-point deficit to tie the score at 48 in the second quarter. But the Clippers, who were playing without Kawhi Leonard, outscored the Lakers in the third quarter 33-23 to eventually win their ninth straight contest against their in-building neighbor.

Despite everything, first-year Lakers coach Darvin Ham is trying to remain optimistic. He said the Lakers’ biggest issues Wednesday were “self-inflicted wounds,” including turnovers, missed shots at the rim and fouls, all things which can be corrected.

“I’m not in the business of feeling sorry for myself, and I’m not gonna allow my team to do that,” Ham said.

Easy for him to say considering he’s only been going through this for 11 games, while James, Davis and Westbrook are now on Season 2 of this disaster.

It’s clear that the frustration is building. On Wednesday, Westbrook spoke in clipped sentences, Davis visibly hung his head, and James said he’s willing to resort to desperate measures.

“I gotta learn how to flop or something,” James said after pointing out that he only shot four free throws. “Seriously. I need to learn how to do that. Swipe my head back or do something to get to the free-throw line because the ‘I missed it’ [from officials] is getting too repetitive. It’s three games straight of, ‘I missed it.’”

It’s clear that the Lakers don’t know how to turn things around. They opened the season with a record of 0-5 before stringing together two wins and then losing another four straight games

“We’re up and down,” Davis said. “And the first five that we lost, we were in each game. Our defense was unbelievable, but we just couldn’t make shots. Now it’s the other way around. We’re playing well offensively, but we’re not playing defense. That’s where the optimism comes in. If we put it all together for 48 minutes, we know what type of team we can be.”

But the Lakers haven’t been able to put things together. And now James is struggling with yet another injury on top of the left foot soreness he’s been dealing with since training camp.

For the Lakers, their season just keeps getting worse.

Some might even call it laughable.

Melissa Rohlin is an NBA writer for FOX Sports. She previously covered the league for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Times, the Bay Area News Group and the San Antonio Express-News. Follow her on Twitter @melissarohlin.