LeBron James to miss Lakers’ game Tuesday at Memphis because of foot injury

The Lakers announced that forward LeBron James will not play when the team faces the Grizzlies on Tuesday night in Memphis because of “right foot soreness.”

Point guard D’Angelo Russell is doubtful to play after he missed Sunday’s game at Dallas because of an ankle injury. Anthony Davis has been listed as probable.

James injured his foot during the third quarter Sunday in the Lakers’ 111-108 comeback win over the Mavericks, his sneaker sticking to the court, sending him falling awkwardly to the ground. He appeared to tell teammates and Lakers staff that he “heard a pop.”

He was able to stay in and finish the game.

James walked with a significant limp when leaving the arena.

“It’s been better. That’s for sure,” he said after the win Sunday. “But I definitely wasn’t going to go to the locker room and not finish the game out tonight. Just understood the importance of the game and then with the momentum that we had, I felt like we could still win after being down. We’ll monitor it the next couple days, see how it feels and go from there.”

The Lakers are in 12th place in the Western Conference but only 3½ games back of the fourth-place Phoenix Suns.

James said he has been dealing with an illness since the All-Star break. Before the break, he missed multiple games because of soreness in his left foot and ankle.

James scored 26 points Sunday against the Mavericks.

“Yeah, always,” Lakers guard Austin Reaves said when asked whether he was concerned when he saw James get hurt. “With him hurt, rolled his ankle, whatever, you never wanna see that. Any of the guys on the team, you never want to see anybody get hurt. So we’re happy he could finish the game, and to have him and AD [Anthony Davis] carry us down the stretch was really important.”

After the game against the Grizzlies on Tuesday, the Lakers play at Oklahoma City on Wednesday.

At the All-Star break, James said he hoped to be available for the team throughout its final push for the playoffs.

“I hope I can figure out a way to just make sure that I’m available on the floor every single night for these 23 games to give us a chance,” he said, “give our group a chance to be able to compete every night and give ourselves a chance to win every night so we can give ourselves a chance to get into the postseason.”