It’s been exactly one month since LeBron James played his last game for the Los Angeles Lakers and in his absence, they’ve looked more like a lottery team than a championship contender — or even playoff team.
It’s not totally clear when James should be expected to make his return, and every game he misses puts the Lakers further out of the playoff race. In the 14 games L.A. has played without their superstar forward, they’ve fallen from the fourth seed in the Western Conference to the ninth, and that’s not a coincidence.