LOS ANGELES — LeBron James will miss the Lakers‘ game against the Miami Heat on Wednesday because of an illness, the team announced.
The illness is not COVID-19 related, the team clarified.
“Just under the weather,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said before the game. “Just the common cold, is what it sounds like. So we told him to shut it down. Stay at the house. Get fluids, get meds and try to get better.”
L.A. started Austin Reaves, Juan Toscano-Anderson, Thomas Bryant, Patrick Beverley and Dennis Schroder against the Heat.
James will have to put his hot play of late on pause. The 20-year veteran is coming off consecutive 40-point efforts since his 38th birthday, becoming the first player since Michael Jordan to do so at that age. In his past 11 games, James has averaged 34.5 points on 58.2% shooting and Los Angeles has gone 6-5. Eight of those games have been without Anthony Davis, who is out with a fractured bone spur and stress reaction in his right foot.
Lonnie Walker IV will also miss his third straight game with a bruised tailbone, according to the Lakers.
L.A. returned from a five-game road trip Tuesday. The Lakers host the Heat on Wednesday and the Atlanta Hawks on Friday before going back on the road for a two-game trip in Sacramento on Saturday and Denver on Monday.