The Lakers’ miserable start to the season has taken another unfortunate turn.

During the fourth quarter of Lakers’ 114-101 loss to the crosstown rival Clippers, which dropped them to 2-9 on the season, LeBron James limped off the floor with an injury and did not return. James was seen grabbing his groin area, with the team saying he was dealing with “left leg soreness,” per ESPN.

The injury appeared to happen when he was posting up Clippers star Paul George.

“I didn’t do anything extraneous on the play,” James said after the game. “Just when I landed, I felt a little spasm or strain in my groin. So immediately I had to come out after that on the next play down when I went to the free throw line.

“I feel good, besides the injury,” James added.

The 37-year-old had previously been dealing with a foot injury that already had his status for back-to-back games up in the air.

James said the new injury doesn’t feel as painful as his groin injury from Christmas 2018 during his first season with the Lakers. He missed a career-high 17 games with that injury.

James, on pace to pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar this season to become the NBA’s career scoring leader, hit four 3-pointers and added eight rebounds and five assists against the Clippers while finishing one shy of his season high in points.

“We’ll let him see our medical staff first,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. “It’s just a lot of adversity. He’s been trying his heart out just to be there for us and play at a high level. I thought he had it going really, really well tonight. But it’s the NBA season, man. You’ve got to be ready for a little bit of everything, so we’ll see what the results are once he gets evaluated and be ready to move forward.”

Anthony Davis had 21 points and nine rebounds for the Lakers, who suffered their fourth consecutive defeat. Russell Westbrook added 14 points and nine assists.

The Lakers have the NBA’s second-worst record so far.

– With AP