The Los Angeles Lakers (25-21) caught a break when they upset the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night. After losing a whole slew of games since the Christmas Day injury to LeBron James, the Lakers have dropped to the bubble spot in the Western Conference rankings. The Lakers were one loss away from dropping below that bubble but then Kyle Kuzma scored 32 and the Lakers knocked off the Thunder, 138-128 in overtime.

While the Utah Jazz (26-21) also won, and moved ahead of the Lakers in the Western Conference standings, the Los Angeles Clippers (24-21) are on a five-game losing stream and fell half a game back, keeping the Lakers alive in the race for a Western Conference playoff spot.

With that said, Los Angeles Lakers head coach Luke Walton has an update on both of his injured starters LeBron James and Rajon Rondo.

Rajon Rondo injury update

Rajon Rondo looks like he is just about ready to make his return to the Los Angeles Lakers. As a matter of fact, unlike LeBron James, Rondo has traveled with the Lakers to their games with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets. Dave McMenamin of ESPN reports that the Lakers have cleared Rondo for full contact practice.

Rajon Rondo has missed a total of 31 games this season for the Los Angeles Lakers. He is working on recovering from a hand injury that required surgery on December 28. He also suffered a broken hand last season. Head coach Luke Walton said that he does not expect Rondo to play against Houston or against the Golden State Warriors on Monday.

LeBron James injury update

This also goes for LeBron James. While LeBron might not be at the level of Rajon Rondo when it comes to on-court practice, he will practice with the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday but Luke Walton said that he is also not likely to play on Monday night against the Golden State Warriors.

LeBron James has missed 11 consecutive games since he injured his groin against the Golden State Warriors on Christmas Day.

This was the most severe groin injury James ever suffered and the Los Angeles Lakers wanted to make sure that they did not rush him back and risk further injury.

The injury occurred when LeBron James was trying to back down Draymond Green only to have his foot slip out from under him. He was in significant pain, and while he tried to play through it, he ended up leaving the game and has never returned. James didn't miss one single game last season with the Cleveland Cavaliers.