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    COLUMN: Blue Christmas for purple-and-gold Lakers

    Overusing LeBron James, nearly 38, is not sustainable
    Dec 24, 2022
    Anthony Davis LeBron James Lakers bench
    LeBron James will have to shoulder more of the load with Anthony Davis out.
    PHOTO: AP
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    CHICAGO - It looks like it will be a blue Christmas and a season of grieving for the purple-and-gold Los Angeles Lakers.

    The first dose of bad tidings arrived early today when the team released a statement that All-Star Anthony Davis will be "out indefinitely" due to a "stress foot."

    Hours later, the grief descended into a comedic skit when the Lakers lost to the Charlotte Hornets at home at the crypto.com Arena. In the final seconds of that 134-130 defeat, with the Lakers trailing by two, LeBron James lost his shoe and Dennis Scroeder missed a potential game-winner from deep.

    Entering that contest the Hornets were losers of eight of their last nine games. But they led by as many as 16 points and their 134-point output across four quarters exposed the defensive woes of the Lakers, who dropped to 13th place in the Western Conference with a 13-19 record.

    If the regular season were to end now, the Lakers wouldn't even qualify for the play-in tournament. And as things stand, they are 2.5 games behind for a spot in that knockout round and would have to leapfrog past the relatively stable OKC Thunder and the Golden State Warriors.

    Without Davis, that seems like asking for too much.

    Given that Davis' history of injuries has been well documented, this recent trip to the injury list comes hardly as any surprise. With AD, the fear of losing him is always in the equation, like that sword of Damocles.

    And that is a crying shame.

    Prior to getting hurt, Davis was plowing through another All-Star season, averaging 27.5 points, 12.1 rebounds and 2.6 assists per in 25 games. He shot 59.4 percent from the field and 29 percent from 3.

    Without the 6-foot-10, 253-pound big in the foreseeable future, the prognosis for these Lakers look dire.

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    While LA has serviceable bigs in 6-foot-10, 248-pound Thomas Bryant and 6-foot-11, 245-pound Damian Jones, neither can come close to filling the big shoes and the giant role Davis represents for the Lakers.

    Which means coach Darvin Ham, in order to win games, may have to overuse LeBron James. And that is not sustainable considering that James, who has 53,005 minutes worth of wear and tear on his knees, will turn 38 in a few days.

    But, hey, there's always Russell Westbrook to lean on, right?

    A HUGE WIN FOR THE PBA.

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      LeBron James will have to shoulder more of the load with Anthony Davis out.
      PHOTO: AP
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