Lakers' LeBron James to sit out vs. Bucks with ankle injury

Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James will not play against the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday because of left ankle soreness, the team announced Tuesday.

James, who was downgraded after originally being listed as doubtful, has been dealing with the ankle issue for months. He also missed a game against Milwaukee on March 8 in which Spencer Dinwiddie started in James' place.

James played 38 minutes in the Lakers' 150-145 win over the Indiana Pacers on Sunday, contributing 26 points and 10 assists.

"Just like our remaining game schedule, I'm just taking things one day at a time, man," coach Darvin Ham said when asked if James' ankle could cause him to miss more games down the stretch. "I don't want to jump out ahead and mislead you guys into believing something that's not going to happen, that's not true. And so again, it's go as tolerated. And after the [Pacers] game, he was experiencing some significant discomfort. And so again, he's getting treatment around the clock. And once he wakes up in the morning, we'll have another update."

The Bucks game is the start of a six-game road trip for the Lakers, who are No. 9 in the Western Conference with 11 games left to play. Los Angeles is three games behind the Phoenix Suns for the No. 6 spot in the conference, which it would need to secure to avoid the play-in tournament. The Lakers are 2.5 games ahead of the 10th-seeded Golden State Warriors.

Lakers guard D'Angelo Russell, who missed the Indiana game with a non-COVID illness, is not on the injury report against Milwaukee.