The Los Angeles Lakers suffered a disappointing loss on Sunday when they fell to the mediocre Chicago Bulls, 118-108, in front of their home crowd at Crypto.com Arena.
The Bulls outworked and outhustled the Lakers, even though LeBron James unexpectedly returned to game action earlier than most expected.
One factor in L.A.’s loss may have been the absence of starting point guard D’Angelo Russell, who has missed the team’s last two contests with hip soreness.
The two teams will face off again on Wednesday, this time in Chicago, and it looks like there’s a good chance Russell will return to the lineup, as he has been upgraded to probable.
Russell’s ball-handling, facilitating, 3-point shooting and overall offensive ability have raised the floor of this Lakers team ever since he was acquired in February’s blockbuster Russell Westbrook trade.
He is averaging 18.6 points and 6.4 assists per game while shooting 47.1 percent overall and 39.5 percent from 3-point range in 11 contests with Los Angeles so far.
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Story originally appeared on LeBron Wire