The Lakers (23-14) are in danger of letting their slump stretch further as LeBron James could be limited Tuesday against Atlanta. He has not played back-to-back games all year and already played 33 minutes against the Kings, scoring 22 points.<\/p>\n
If James is out, the Lakers could at least still welcome someone else back.<\/p>\n
All things Lakers, all the time. Reinforcement on the way<\/p>\n
Rui Hachimura was available against the Kings after missing two weeks with a calf injury, but didn\u2019t play. He could be more valuable against the Hawks on Tuesday in the second game of a back-to-back. <\/p>\n
Hachimura will begin on a minutes restriction and won\u2019t immediately reprise his starting role. But the struggling Lakers know what they will need from him when he returns.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s our best catch-and-shoot guy,\u201d coach JJ Redick said of Hachimura. \u201cHe\u2019s one of the best guys in the league. \u2026 This is the balance that we\u2019ve been battling all years: We can play better defenders and our offense isn\u2019t as good. We can play better offensive players and our defense isn\u2019t as good. So we\u2019re continuing to find that balance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hachimura is shooting 43.6% on catch-and-shoot attempts, which ranks 23rd among players with 100 or more such attempts. He started the season on a Michael Jordan-esque <\/a>shooting streak, but cooled off in recent games. He was four for 14 from three-point range in his last four games before the latest injury. Averaging 12.7 points per game, Hachimura is still shooting a team-best 44.5% from three. He\u2019s the only player shooting better than 40% from beyond the arc on a team that is one of the worst three-point shooting teams in the league.<\/p>\n But Hachimura has never been known as a stout defender. He\u2019s averaging 3.8 rebounds per game this year, which equals his career-low.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Jake LaRavia, who has started in Hachimura\u2019s place, has been the Lakers\u2019 most consistent defender all season. He can be a scorer, too. Only last week, we dedicated this newsletter<\/a> to LaRavia\u2019s back-to-back 20-point games.<\/p>\n But Redick also said that the team won\u2019t count on that from him every night. LaRavia\u2019s job is to be a perimeter anchor on defense and he has delivered in that role.<\/p>\n Redick said he hasn\u2019t made any decisions about the starting lineup going forward as the team gets healthier.<\/p>\n The Lakers were 11th in offensive rating and 24th in defensive rating before Monday\u2019s game. They were getting outscored by 0.7 points per 100 possessions. They\u2019re the only team with a negative net rating with a winning record.<\/p>\n All-Star voting winds down Luka Doncic is on top of All-Star voting.<\/p>\n (Gina Ferazzi \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n It\u2019s election season in the NBA. All-Star elections, that is.<\/p>\n Lakers star Luka Doncic led the league in fan All-Star voting after two reveals, the league announced last Tuesday. His 2,229,811 votes were more than 137,000 ahead of Eastern Conference leader Giannis Antetokounmpo, who has led the league in All-Star fan voting for the last two seasons.<\/p>\n \u201cHonestly it\u2019s pretty amazing,\u201d Doncic said of the early voting results. \u201cJust, I mean, a kid from Slovenia only can dream about that, can dream about being in the NBA.\u201d<\/p>\n Fan voting ends Wednesday at 8:59 p.m. PST. Doncic is in line to earn his sixth All-Star honor.<\/p>\n It\u2019s already been quite the year for Doncic. After signing a three-year contract extension with the Lakers in August, the 26-year-old superstar is leading the league in scoring with 33.6 points per game. He had a second child. He launched a new signature shoe.<\/p>\n And he\u2019s become the unquestioned leader of the Lakers in his first full season in L.A. Even LeBron James called Doncic \u201cthe franchise.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOne, I think, [Doncic has] established himself as a global superstar. He has for years now,\u201d Redick said. \u201cCertainly speaks to the popularity of the Lakers\u2019 brand and the amount of fans that follow us and cheer for us and live and breathe with every shot in every game like everybody in that locker room does. And I think he\u2019s a fantastic representative of this organization.\u201d<\/p>\n James was eighth in Western Conference voting in the second fan returns and 14th overall. The superstar who led the league in voting for seven consecutive seasons from 2017 to 2023 may see his 21-year All-Star streak end this season.<\/p>\n He has appeared in just 20 games, averaging 22 points, 6.8 assists and 5.5 rebounds while managing sciatica and foot arthritis. James was named a starter last season, but was a late scratch from the event because of foot and ankle injuries. It was the first time James didn\u2019t participate in the NBA\u2019s midseason showcase event since his rookie season.<\/p>\n This could be Austin Reaves\u2019 first All-Star honor but a recent calf injury has hurt his campaign. Reaves was 11th in the West in fan voting after two returns. <\/p>\n Reaves appeared to be a lock for the honor earlier this season. He is averaging 26.6 points, 6.3 assists and 5.2 rebounds a game, all career-highs. He scored 51 points in a game against Sacramento.<\/p>\n The All-Star game will be held at Intuit Dome on Feb. 15 with yet another unorthodox format that hopes to generate some legitimate competition at the exhibition that has seemingly lost its luster in recent years. Voting takes place in traditional East vs. West format to decide the five players from each conference that are named \u201cstarters.\u201d<\/p>\n But the group may not actually play together during the game.<\/p>\n The format will instead have two, eight-man teams of U.S. players and one \u201cworld\u201d team of international players. They will compete in a round-robin tournament of four, 12-minute games. If the voting doesn\u2019t yield 16 U.S. players and eight international players, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver will select additional players to reach the minimum required.<\/p>\n Voting for starters is determined by fan vote (50%), NBA players (25%) and media (25%). After the starters are announced on Monday, NBA coaches decide the seven reserves for each conference. <\/p>\n On tap<\/p>\n Tuesday, vs. Hawks (20-21), 7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n The Hawks have won three consecutive games, including two after trading star Trae Young to Washington on Jan. 9. While Young \u2014 who ended up in Atlanta after in a draft-day trade that sent Doncic to Dallas \u2014 was the unquestioned headliner in the organization, the Hawks were just 2-8 in games with him this season. They didn\u2019t need Young to beat the Lakers by 20 points in November.<\/p>\n Thursday, vs. Hornets (14-26), 7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n LaMelo Ball has returned since the last time the Lakers faced the Hornets in Charlotte. The former Chino Hills High star is averaging 19.9 points and 7.8 assists per game while Kon Knueppel leads all rookies with 19.1 points per game.<\/p>\n Saturday at Trail Blazers (19-21), 7 p.m. <\/p>\n Deni Avdija (averaging 26.1 points, 7.1 rebounds, 6.9 assists) left Sunday\u2019s loss against the Knicks in the fourth quarter with a back injury. The loss ended a five-game winning streak for the Trail Blazers, who had won seven of eight. Point guard Jrue Holiday (calf) also returned from a nearly three-month absence.<\/p>\n Sunday, vs. Raptors (24-16), 6:30 p.m. <\/p>\n This is the second game of the Lakers\u2019 second back-to-back in a week. The Lakers have five games in seven days. Brace yourself for some ugly basketball during this stretch.<\/p>\n Status report<\/p>\n Austin Reaves: left calf strain<\/p>\n There\u2019s about two weeks left until Reaves is reevaluated for the calf injury he aggravated on Christmas Day.<\/p>\n Adou Thiero: right MCL sprain<\/p>\n The rookie won\u2019t be reevaluated for at least another two and a half weeks.<\/p>\n Favorite thing I ate this week Simpang Asia\u2019s festival rice: A platter of turmeric rice, and, clockwise from bottom left: fried wonton sheets, steamed vegetables under peanut dressing, tumeric chicken under shredded egg, fried noodles, potatoes under sambal balado, a red chili sauce with red peppers and tomatoes.<\/p>\n (Thuc Nhi Nguyen \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n I\u2019m an indecisive eater. Choosing a dish at a restaurant feels like a very high-stakes decision. So a variety platter always hates to see me coming.<\/p>\n When I don\u2019t want to just settle for one thing, the festival rice (nasi kuning komplit) from Simpang Asia in Palms helps cover all the bases. The Indonesian feast has a little bit of everything. A tower of turmeric rice stands at the center of the plate and is surrounded by potatoes under sambal balado \u2014 a red chili sauce with red peppers and tomatoes \u2014 fried noodles, turmeric chicken under shredded egg, steamed vegetables under peanut dressing and fried wonton sheets. <\/p>\n We also ordered roti paratha, Bali sea bass, which is grilled in banana leaves, and kwetiau goreng, a wok-fried rice noodle dish with bean sprouts, Chinese greens and eggs. We even uncovered a secret menu item: They don\u2019t list their croquettes \u2014 fried potato balls filled with chicken \u2014 on the menu but you can still ask for them. You should ask for them. <\/p>\n In case you missed it<\/p>\n Luka Doncic scores 42 points, but poor defense dooms Lakers in loss to Kings<\/a><\/p>\n Lakers\u2019 Rui Hachimura getting closer to returning from injury<\/a><\/p>\n NBA suspends Kings\u2019 Dennis Schroder for reported confrontation with Luka Doncic<\/a><\/p>\n Luka Doncic and LeBron James both falter at finish as Lakers lose to Bucks<\/a><\/p>\n Luka Doncic has a triple-double, but LeBron-less Lakers lose to Spurs<\/a><\/p>\n Luka and LeBron go 30-30 as Lakers defeat the Pelicans<\/a><\/p>\n Until next time…<\/p>\n As always, pass along your thoughts to me at thucnhi.nguyen@latimes.com<\/a>, and please consider subscribing<\/a> if you like our work!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Welcome back to The Times\u2019 Lakers newsletter, where things are about to get extra busy. The Lakers started…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":534021,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[7,10450,10455,10454,5673,300,1651,10456,10449,18,655,10451,396,1141,10453,10452,168],"class_list":["post-534020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-basketball","tag-big-trade-move","tag-guys","tag-howard","tag-jerami-grant","tag-lakers","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-next-month","tag-pandemic","tag-player","tag-players","tag-talen-horton","tag-team","tag-time","tag-trade-season","tag-tucker","tag-week"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=534020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534020\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/534021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Luka](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768316174_88_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Simpang](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768316175_948_.jpeg\")
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