Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Shams: LeBron TO MISS AT LEAST 3-4 WEEKS with Sciatica! How do the Lakers React?

Episode Date: October 10, 2025

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Everyone, welcome to a special bonus episode of Locked-on Lakers, Brian Komenetsky, Andy Kaminetsky, LeBron, James out for at least another three to four weeks. What's going on? We'll explain next. You are Locked-on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Thanks to everybody for making Locked on Lakers first listen to every day, Monday through Friday, sometimes twice, on. Thursday, no matter how or where you get your podcast. This one's always free, never behind paywall.

Of course, Locked on Lookers on YouTube's right. Go hang out with over 36,000 subscribers to the channel, many of whom are watching this very broadcast live as we are interrupting your work day or whatever it is you're doing to bring you the news that LeBron James, he doesn't just have some nerve pain in his glute, Andy. He's going to miss the next three to four weeks. He'll be re-evaluated in three to four weeks, meaning the actual absence will probably be longer.

Sciatica is the diagnosis, which just tells me the writers aren't working very hard. Well, first of all, I was at practice on Thursday. We'll have more from practice with our full-length show that we'll record later on today. but JJ did in giving us updates on LeBron, Luca, et cetera, said that LeBron was, quote, on his own timeline. Dude wasn't kidding. And he sounded really annoyed when he said it, which I think, I have no idea how exactly they're related,

but I guarantee you the tone of what JJ said, had it not been followed with this information of LeBron is, going to be, you know, can't even get evaluated. He's out for at least another three to four weeks. Without the additional context, it would have sounded just like JJ was annoyed that LeBron wasn't on the floor. Right.

And JJ was, again, we'll talk more about this in the full-length show, but JJ was very clearly not in the mood to talk. His entire post-practice media session was about a minute or less, which is very short for JJ. he is typically pretty good with answering questions, pretty detailed in the responses that he gives. Today he was not in the mood to talk.

We're starting to see more of a reason why, Persham Sharania. This diagnosis of sciatica will keep LeBron out three to four weeks. The sciatica, I just did a quick Google search, and the first thing that came up was from the Cleveland Clinic, which feels apropos. sciatica is nerve pain from an injury or irritation in your sciatic nerve in addition to pain. It can involve tingling or numbness in your back or butt that may radiate down your leg. More severe symptoms are possible, which I say this to demonstrate how this is obviously related to the glute nerve irritation that we were first hearing about with LeBron. sciatica is either more specific, scarier sounding or both. Yeah, I mean, it's, it is, that's an old person, Andy.

I can tell you, it kind of is what it is. Like I've had some, some issues with sciatica. It's not necessarily fun. And when it's really flares up, it's, it's really painful. So like I said, like the notion of like the, the injury that keeps LeBron from starting the season on time, that it's sciatic. and he's in his 40s. It just feels lazy.

But I look at this and like the, the, let's just say that the re-evaluation comes at three weeks. It's going to take another, you know, you got, you got it in he is clear to play. Four full weeks will have LeBron missing the first nine games of the season. Right.

And that's what I'm getting towards. And like if he, even if the evaluation period comes at the beginning of that three, three to four week period and he's cleared he you know because he has missed all this time with an injury it's not like he broke his wrist where you can stay fit you can do all like you there's only so much you can do while you are recovering from an injury like this you have to add a week of fitness and all that kind of stuff practice make sure there's no response practice make sure so you're looking at a month that would be for anybody much

plus the guy who's going to turn 41 in December. Because what you really can't have is this as much as possible, what you can't have, what you don't want to have. I mean, there is a limit as to how much control anybody has over it. But what you want to try to avoid is taking the month off, rushing back, doing it too quickly, and making this a recurring thing that kind of plagues LeBron throughout the season. So I think realistically for me, I look at this as like he's not going to play for five to six weeks.

I think if it's faster than that, great. I think anything faster than a month is probably unrealistic. Five weeks would be a nice return. And like you say, if it's that four week reevaluation is nine games, you add another couple for any kind of rehab. you don't expect them come right back. It's reasonable to project, to me, LeBron missing the first quarter of the season. It's certainly possible. Again, not a given, but nine games feels like an absolute given and given the age.

Nine is just kind of the – That's what I'm saying. It seems like the bare minimum. Yeah. Well, yeah. I mean, I'm going to bet on the high side given LeBron's age and the fact that all Laker injuries are on the high side. So I'm going to go with four weeks. Four weeks is the first nine games of the season.

And if you start stretching into four and a half weeks, you pretty quickly get into 10 or 11 games. Right. But again, I'm not just, I just want to make sure people understand. Four weeks is the timeline, you know, three to four weeks is a timeline to be reevalued. Right. Right.

As opposed to expected to return to the court. I'm just saying I, because I don't know exactly what the, rehab for sciatica involves how much you can get yourself to some degree ready in real time while rehabbing. While I think it is unlikely, I am not entirely ruling out the possibility of a relatively quick return after four weeks if that could happen. Again, I'm not banking on it. I'm just saying I think it would be irresponsible to say it can't happen. So there you have nine games.

In the meantime, though, this obviously puts a big-time damper and a big-time hindrance on the Lakers trying to get the most out of a training camp that has already felt like it's gone into the crapper progressively since Media Day. We'll get into more of this in the full show, but Luca was not a full participant in Thursday's practice, which wasn't described as a particularly intensive one. but he still wasn't doing everything in it. Which that makes it more concerning to me if they're not doing. He went from full participants last week to non or semi-participants this week. Yeah. And so that's the trend. Right.

He is regressing, it would appear, in terms of his availability in health. Obviously, the Lakers have four preseason games next week. some concerns might be assuaged if Luca is able to play on Sunday, but we will see. But the Lakers just feel like, especially when you look around the rest of the league and how many star players are playing for their teams in the preseason, it feels by any reasonable measure that the Lakers are behind where they should be and behind the rest of the league and behind the Western Conference doesn't mean that they can't at some point catch up. And, you know, depending on what Luca looks like, ultimately on opening day,

Marcus Smart, for example, did practice in full today and said that he felt very good. So fingers crossed, Luca gets back by the beginning of the season and everyone else stays healthy. Maybe the Lakers can, you know, keep the train on the tracks reasonably well until LeBron gets back. But they need LeBron to be the fullest version of themselves. And for the time, being that ain't going to be happening for a while it is not and you know it's certainly you get the you know from the tone of reddick today at practice and obviously you know if you're if you're you know fan you can find all this stuff i think the lakers posted but you know all reddick's time with the media is posted in any number of ways across socials um he was frustrated

clearly visibly frustrated with not being able to get luka and lebron on the floor. And obviously, you know, I've been saying, you know, the, there have been fans and there are fans in the chat that I can see reading right now. I think this is LeBron, you know, pitching a fit for not getting his contract extension and all these other things, which all of this is ridiculous. But the, it was pretty, it was looking pretty clear to me that this was not a camp team, LeBron, just kind of. doesn't not wanting to participate in the preseason very much you know year 23 all that kind of stuff it was much more of a can't do it rather than not really wanting to or just being super

cautious my concern now is with luka that he's starting to become in the same like i i am sure i would not be at all surprised i just i can't say i'm sure i haven't talked to them but that Luca's team has a plan for him this preseason. They all got together, came to camp with a plan. I seriously doubt that plan was go hard the first week and take the second week off. Maybe it was. But I also feel like if it was, the Lakers wouldn't be particularly cryptic about it. I mean, at some point...

They have not been sharing details about what has been going on with Luca all I I asked JJ point blank did Luca scrimmage in full in the first week like we were given the impression and he said yes which is great but there was that was to clarify the confusion from right from DeAndre Aten's comments which again I we talked about this for Thursday or for when no for Thursday show um I think people when you know DeAndre Aten was answering the question I think literally how what's it like to work with those two guys in the floor I don't know I haven't done it because because LeBron James hasn't played.

So I just, I think at some point, the Lakers are taking Friday off or scheduled to take Friday off. They're scheduled to have sort of a light practice to prepare for Sunday's game. If Luca doesn't play on Sunday, if he doesn't play on Tuesday, if he doesn't practice on Saturday, like, you know, there's at some point, some sort of explanation is required. I will say this. if the question is, is JJ taking the preseason seriously in terms of whatever?

The answer is obviously yes, because his reaction to all of this stuff was not of one, not one that screamed to me, we, meaning I, like, I don't want Luca on the floor. I want him to take it easy. Like that is not the impression that I'm left with. This is a, to me, feels like Luca for some reason is, it is seen as smarter for him not to practice. And that makes me nervous. Well, if nothing else is a great way for LeBron to sell some Hennessy,

because there's a lot of Laker fans right now who could use a drink. So kudos to the synergy there. Cocktails that have both tequila and cognac. So maybe. As a former bartender, the name of that drink is disgusting. I didn't say any of them looked good. Those two liquors have no business being. No, I did.

That's why I was, I was like, Are there any that work together and there are, but none of them sounded good? Very, very competing taste. Again, I'm not recommending it. I'm just saying they exist. No. Anyway, we will be back with a full show for the YouTube viewers. You can catch that later in the evening, potentially later in the evening.

I think we're going to go live tonight, but I'm not totally sure. For the audio listeners, of course, the new audio episode drops at midnight every night. Locked on Lakers on YouTube is where you can go hang out with over 36,000 subscribers. But before we go, Andy, first this, that Locked on Lakers is brought to by Peloton, shaping the future of fitness with the brand new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus powered by Peloton IQ. It's their most advanced equipment yet designed to give you real-time guidance and endless ways to move, whether running, lifting, cross-training, working out the sciatica. With your favorite, Instructors training, reimagined.

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