India, Nov. 6 -- King James is yet to play the first game of his record 23rd NBA season. The 40-year-old missed the San Antonio Spurs game on Wednesday and is expected to stay out for the next few weeks. He is recovering from a nagging sciatica injury that surfaced last month.

Addressing concerns around James' injury, Lakers head coach JJ Redick said: "Obviously, this thing has to continue to progress with all of his return-to-play protocols. So we don't have, like, a target date. It's just somewhere in that general timeline. We hope that he's kind of checked all the boxes and is going to be back sometime in that second or third week in November."

The Lakers will face the Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets, Oklahoma City Thunder, New Orle...