LeBron James missed his first game of the season on Sunday with a foot injury, but he wasn’t expected to be out long – and the Lakers can’t afford for him to be out.

It looks like LeBron will also miss the Lakers’ game in Minnesota on Friday. ESPN’s Shams Charania and Dave McMenamin report.

James, who missed Sunday’s game because of foot soreness, would have eight days between games when he returns Sunday against Memphis.

He was also away from the Lakers for personal reasons. coach JJ Redick told reporters.

“LeBron is not with the team at the moment. He’s missing for personal reasons, excused absence,” Redick said.

All of this makes it seem highly unlikely that LeBron will travel with the Lakers to Minnesota for Friday’s game.

This all comes at a time when trade speculation surrounding LeBron has surfaced, with reports that the Golden State Warriors and other teams are monitoring LeBron’s situation to see if he wants to leave Los Angeles. Don’t bet on a trade happening. First, LeBron has a no-trade clause and completely controls the process. He can’t be traded unless he asks for a trade, and the Lakers would never trade him unless he asked for it because he’s too important to their business (he’s the one who’s blowing up the stands entry prices, the one to which sponsors flock). nearby, the one who sells the jerseys and merchandise). LeBron had chances to leave, including this summer when he was a free agent, and instead he not only re-signed with the Lakers – offering to take a discount to bring more talent to the roster – he demanded also this no-trade clause.

The Lakers drafted Bronny James because of LeBron — and because Bronny has potential as a prospect — and gave Bronny a guaranteed NBA contract, not a two-way contract. There’s no chance that LeBron will back out of playing in the same organization as his son. Which brings us to the final hurdle in all of this: even if LeBron decided he wanted to give it a try Relive the magic of the Paris Olympics and team up with Stephen Currythis is a complicated trade because luxury tax apron restrictions choke both the Lakers and the Warriors, and neither can accept more money in a trade than they send out. Making a trade almost dollar for dollar is made all the more difficult by the fact that LeBron is demanding that Bronny be part of the deal and come with him, which would most likely be a condition.

LeBron isn’t going anywhere. Probably not even to Minnesota this weekend.