Will LeBron James, Rui Hachimura or Jaxson Hayes play on Friday?

[ASFN Admin]

On Thursday, the Los Angeles Lakers will start a rough stretch of three sets of back-to-back games in eight days when they visit the Milwaukee Bucks. They have lost both of their last two games, and with the Western Conference playoff seeding race as competitive as it is, they cannot afford to suffer another loss to a team they're supposed to defeat.

The big problem is that they're without their starting frontcourt right now. LeBron James continues to rehab from the groin strain he suffered on Saturday versus the Boston Celtics, and forward Rui Hachimura and Jaxson Hayes are still out due to patellar tendinopathy and a knee contusion, respectively.

All three have reportedly returned to Los Angeles, which means none of them are expected to play on Friday when the team visits the Denver Nuggets.

JJ Redick says that Jaxson Hayes and Rui Hachimura have also left the trip to return to L.A., along with LeBron James, as ESPN reported yesterday. With them leaving the trip, obviously Denver is out for them. All three players are considered day-to-day, according to Redick.

— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) March 13, 2025

The Lakers are currently in fourth place in the Western Conference with a 40-23 record. While a win on Thursday would move them up in the standings, they're just half a game ahead of the fifth-place Houston Rockets.

This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Will LeBron James, Rui Hachimura or Jaxson Hayes play on Friday?

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