LeBron James made his return on Saturday night after a two-week injury absence, looking refreshed and eager to help the Los Angeles Lakers make a push for the postseason. However, things quickly went downhill for the Lakers as they were blown out 146-115 by the Chicago Bulls.
“We’ve got to play better basketball than we did tonight, and what we did on our last road trip,” James stated before the Lakers left for a four-game stretch, starting with Orlando on Monday. James scored 17 points after missing the last seven games due to a strained left groin, but as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, he appeared a bit out of sync at times—especially late in the first quarter when he threw an errant sideline inbounds pass that sailed out of bounds, never coming close to any of his teammates.
While James’ return was notable, it couldn’t prevent a broader poor performance from the Lakers, who suffered their second consecutive loss and hit another low point in a season marked by inconsistency since the trade for Luka Doncic.
The Lakers couldn’t find any success against the motivated Bulls, despite the simultaneous return of starting forward Rui Hachimura, who had been sidelined for 12 games due to a knee injury.
Lakers coach JJ Redick reflected on the team’s struggles, saying, “I don’t know if we assumed that because we had everyone back, it would just click like it did three weeks ago, but that’s not how it works.” He added, “The thing we’ve talked about all season is grace, so the team gets some leeway for what these last three weeks have looked like. But that was the worst our defense has been, honestly, all year, and certainly in the last three months.”
While the Lakers have shown flashes of brilliance with their new superstar duo, their season has been marked by enough poor performances to highlight the need for improvement. Their grueling schedule has added to the challenge, with 20 games in five weeks, including five home games in just seven days.
The 40-year-old LeBron James remains confident that the Lakers will find their best form. Before his injury, the team had won eight straight games, and they managed to string together a three-game win streak earlier this week leading up to his return.
“I already know what this team is capable of,” James said. “No matter who’s in or out of the lineup, we’ve maintained our effort and continued playing the right way, both offensively and defensively. It’s been great to see that, even through the adversity, injuries, and tough schedule, we’ve still managed to win games.”
James was vague about the progress of his recovery from the groin injury he suffered during a loss to the defending champion Boston Celtics on March 8. Following the injury, the Lakers lost all four games on their road trip but bounced back to win three in a row at home before the current two-game losing streak.
“I just take it day by day,” James explained about his injury. “I can’t predict what’s going to happen in the future, but I did some work on it today. Hopefully, I’ll get a little more done on the plane. It’s a long flight to Orlando, and then I’ll get ready for Monday. I hope it’s behind me, but I’m not looking too far ahead.”
Before his injury, LeBron James was averaging 25.0 points, 8.5 assists, and 8.2 rebounds in his record-tying 22nd NBA season.
Rui Hachimura, the Lakers’ fourth-leading scorer with 13.3 points per game, struggled in his comeback game, scoring just five points in 18 minutes. He mentioned that his knee is about “70-80 percent” healthy but is eager for a full recovery.
“Our defense was terrible today,” Hachimura said. “We weren’t locked in, and we didn’t execute our game plans. They were scoring in every way — 3s, transition, layups, you name it. We just need to focus on our defense. Our offense will be fine. We know that.”
The Lakers also lost to Milwaukee on Thursday while Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves were out, leaving Los Angeles without four regular starters during their sixth game in eight days. However, Doncic and Reaves combined for 59 points in the loss to Chicago, though the rest of the team couldn’t match their performance.
“We haven’t had much time with our full team available,” Redick said. “We’ve been managing this all season, no matter how the team has looked. I’m looking forward to these final 13 games to build some continuity, develop chemistry, and hopefully return to the level of play we had before the Boston game.”