Lakers star LeBron James is listed as questionable for Tuesday’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies at Crypto.com Arena because of a left calf contusion.
The injury forced James to miss Sunday’s 116-110 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers. He suffered the injury in a collision with Kevin Durant in the first quarter of Friday’s 122-119 victory over the Phoenix Suns, remaining in the game to score a team-high 32 points and pull down a game-high equaling 11 rebounds.
The game will be the Lakers’ first at Crypto.com Arena in the NBA’s inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament. Friday’s victory at Phoenix was their first.
The tournament will consist of two stages — group play and the knockout rounds.
All 30 teams were randomly drawn into groups of five within their conference based on win-loss records from the 2022-23 regular season. The Lakers are in West Group A, along with Phoenix, Memphis, the Utah Jazz and Portland.
Each team will play four designated group play games — one game against each opponent in its group, with two games at home and two on the road. The NBA designated Tuesdays and Fridays from Nov. 3-28 as “Tournament Nights,” with the only games on those nights group play games.
(There were no NBA games played last Tuesday because of the league’s policy of not playing games on nights with statewide elections in an attempt to increase voter turnout.)
The first-place finisher in each of the six groups and the team from each conference with the best record in group play games that finished second in its group will advance to the knockout rounds.
Single-elimination quarterfinal games will be played in NBA team markets Dec. 4-5. The semifinals and championship will be played Dec. 7 and Dec. 9 in Las Vegas.
All but the championship will count toward a team’s regular-season schedule.
Each player on the championship team will receive $500,000. Each player on the team losing in the championship will each receive $200,000.
Each player on teams losing in the semifinals will receive $100,000 each. Each player on teams losing in the quarterfinals will receive $50,000 each.
Tournament games will be played on courts the NBA describes as having “a bold and distinctive style,” with a unified look.
“Some of the courts look a little funky,” James said.
The courts are fully painted edge-to-edge, with a contrasting wash of color from lane-to-lane, creating a 16-foot wide “runway” across the court
There will be a larger-than-life NBA Cup at center court and NBA Cup silhouettes in the lanes.
This will be the first time the league has used an alternate court for all 30 teams.
The Lakers’ tournament court is mainly gold with a purple runway.
Tuesday’s game will be the first time the Lakers have played a home game on an alternate court. The tournament will be the first time four other teams will be playing home games on an alternate court — the Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls, New Orleans Pelicans and Portland.
Teams will wear their City jerseys throughout the tournament. The Lakers’ City jersey for the 2023-24 season is black, with a triangle wordmark inspired by their practice jerseys during their early years in Los Angeles. The numbers are in the same style as the ones that were on their jerseys from 1999-2017.
Joe Dumars, the league’s executive vice president, head of basketball operations, called the tournament an opportunity to engage “fans in a different way and driving further interest in the early portion of the regular-season schedule.”
The Lakers (5-5) have won back-to-back games following a three-game losing streak. They are 4-0 at Crypto.com Arena. The Grizzlies’ 2-8 record is the second-worst in the league, ahead of only the 2-9 Detroit Pistons.
The 7:30 p.m. game will be televised by Spectrum SportsNet.