LeBron James, Deandre Ayton out for Lakers vs. Pacers

Star forward LeBron James and starting center Deandre Ayton are among Lakers weren’t available for Friday’s home game against the Pacers at Crypto.com Arena.

The team ruled James out because of the bruised left elbow injury he suffered during Thursday’s road loss to the Nuggets, and left foot arthritis.

Ayton was ruled out because of left knee soreness that limited him against the Nuggets. 

Backup big man Maxi Kleber was also sidelined for the second consecutive game because of a strained back.

The Lakers, who were playing on the second night of a back-to-back, have listed James on the injury report because of arthritis multiple times on the second night of back-to-backs since the 41-year-old, four-time MVP made his season debut in mid-November after he missed the first 14 games because of sciatica. 

James, who was icing his left elbow during his postgame media availability at Ball Arena inside the visitor’s locker room, fell onto the court after Nuggets star Nikola Jokic made contact with him in the air while James made a layup to cut the Lakers’ deficit to 110-106 with just over four minutes left.

No foul was called, with James immediately grabbing at his left elbow and staying down on the court during the Nuggets’ ensuing possession.

Reserve big man Jaxson Hayes subbed in for James once James got up and the Lakers called timeout with 3:58 left. 

Mike Mancias, James’ longtime trainer and the Lakers’ athletic performance liaison, tended to James’ elbow while he was on the team’s bench after the timeout. 

James subbed back in for Rui Hachimura with 2:05 remaining but wasn’t on the court for after-timeout play when Luka Dončić missed a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer with 20 seconds left, with the Nuggets maintaining a 116-111 lead and eventually winning.

“It felt like one of those funny bone situations,” James said. “But like, super more intense.”

Ayton had an early exit against the Nuggets, playing just the opening 4 ½ minutes before subbing out and being ruled out in the third quarter because of the left knee soreness. 

He missed two games before the All-Star break because of right knee soreness.

Ayton was scoreless in the four minutes he played after missing his lone shot, finishing with two rebounds and had an individual plus/minus of minus-13.

“He’s down,” Marcus Smart said of Ayton, who sits next to Smart in the locker room. “It sucked for him not to be out there in the game. He tried to go and it just didn’t feel right for him and it sucks. We definitely could have used him.

“I know as of lately he’s been getting a lot of backlash for his effort and his play. He understands it. I know it might not seem like it, but he does and he wants to do good and he wants to help this team and I think that’s what’s more frustrating for him, because he’s trying. But the way he’s trying is not working and he’s still trying to figure it out. But he definitely was down. He just actually left talking to me, saying how he wished he could have been out there and how sorry he was. But he can’t control that he couldn’t go.”

With Ayton sidelined, Hayes started the second half against the Nuggets, finishing with 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting and five rebounds in 28 minutes.

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