Lakers’ LeBron James to return against Bulls after two-week absence

The top scorer in NBA history is expected to start against the Chicago Bulls in the finale of the Lakers’ five-game homestand.

James was injured late in the Lakers’ loss at defending champion Boston on March 8. The loss snapped an eight-game winning streak that had propelled the Lakers into second place in the Western Conference, and they lost three more road games without James before rallying to win the first three games of their current homestand.

The 40-year-old James left the Lakers during their trip to get treatment, but he participated in several workouts over the past week.

James is averaging 25.0 points, 8.5 assists and 8.2 rebounds while playing in 58 of the Lakers’ first 69 games during his record-tying 22nd NBA season. Two games before his most recent injury, he became the first player in NBA history to score 50,000 combined points in the regular season and the playoffs.

Los Angeles also welcomed back starting forward Rui Hachimura from a 12-game absence with a knee injury before the Lakers faced the Bulls. Hachimura is the Lakers’ fourth-leading scorer with 13.3 points per game, and a valuable two-way contributor.

“Getting those two guys back, I don’t know what the numbers are, but we’ve had a drop-off in our transition offense, and it’s because we haven’t had those two guys,” coach JJ Redick said.

Los Angeles lost to Milwaukee on Thursday while Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves also sat out, leaving the Lakers without four usual starters to play their sixth game in eight days. Doncic and Reaves were already cleared to return to the lineup against Chicago.

“We just haven’t had a lot of time with our full team available,” Redick said. “We’ve had to manage this all season long, no matter which iteration of this team it’s been. So I’m excited for these last 13 games to build some continuity, build some chemistry, and hopefully the way we were playing prior to the Boston game, we can kind of get back to that.”

Ever since the astonishing addition of Doncic, the Lakers have gone 15-7, rising from fifth to third in the Western Conference. The team has gone 8-3 in games where both James and Doncic play.

-With files from Sportsnet Staff