The Lakers have already taken an injury hit less than two weeks before they take the court for the regular season.

LeBron James will miss the start of the season due to sciatica on his right side, according to multiple reports. He’s expected to be reevalutated in three to four weeks. That timeline means James will miss the Lakers’ season opener on Oct. 21 against Steph Curry and the Warriors.

According to the Mayo Clinic, sciatica “refers to pain that travels along the path of the sciatic nerve,” which runs down the buttocks and each leg.

At the end of September, Lakers head coach JJ Redick told reporters that James, 40, was dealing with a nerve issue in his right glute that has now held him out of the first two preseason games.

Redick, on Thursday before the news of the sciatica issue broke, said James was “on his own timeline” to return.

The Lakers, now with Luka Doncic for a full season, face plenty of questions as they look to fill James’ spot in the lineup for at least the next few weeks.

It’s been an offseason filled with questions and rumors for James in particular as he enters his 23rd NBA season.

Speculation has run rampant that James could retire, and that buzz came to a head this week when he announced a “second decision” — a nod to his 2011 signing with the Heat — was coming on Monday.

This time it wasn’t a career choice, but an advertisement for liquor company Hennessy. Shortly after the video was posted online — and slammed by a large swath of social media — Redick called out anyone who believed it was anything serious.

“You guys are idiots,” Redick, James’ friend and coach, told reporters Tuesday. “We all knew it was an ad, right? I’m sure I got some texts. … I think most people that text me are also aware that it was probably an ad. Nobody was freaking out.”

Even as he nears his 41st birthday in December, the four-time NBA MVP has been an incredibly productive player, averaging 24.4 points, 8.2 assists and 7.8 rebounds per game last year.