Los Angeles Lakers suffer more injuries against Oklahoma City Thunder
By Nick Ziegler
In the loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Los Angeles Lakers got even more banged up than they were.
Coming into their game on Wednesday night, the Los Angeles Lakers were already a bit banged up. However, they did get one of their starters back. After missing the last game against the Memphis Grizzlies, Brandon Ingram was able to suit up for the Lakers.
While it was good that Ingram was able to return, Lonzo Ball missed his second straight game with a knee sprain. After losing once again to the Thunder, the Lakers have yet to win a game that Ball doesn’t play in.
Having Ball out clearly shows the lack of depth that the Lakers have in the backcourt, as seeing Tyler Ennis and Alex Caruso playing extended minutes hasn’t gone well for the Lakers. In the loss, the injuries continued to pile up for the Lakers.
On Wednesday, the Lakers saw Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Kyle Kuzma both have to leave early with injuries.
Kyle Kuzma thinks he’ll be OK with the hand injury. It’s sore, but on his left (non-shooting) hand. He’s hopeful he can play on Friday.
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) January 18, 2018
As two main rotations players on the Lakers, having both of them injured is certainly not good for the team. Caldwell-Pope was the first of the two to get injured, as he had his foot rolled up on and suffered an achillies strain. KCP was playing quite well before he was injured, as he totaled 10 points on 3-for-5 shooting. Also, the Lakers were still competitive at that time.
Doesn’t sound like anything serious with KCP, since he tested it out at halftime. The Achilles is sore postgame, but he’s hoping not to miss more time depending on how it feels tomorrow.
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) January 18, 2018
In the second half, Kuzma suffered a left-hand joint sprain, as he was clearly in quite a bit of pain right away and asked Luke Walton to call a timeout. Seeing Kuzma injured certainly isn’t good news for the Lakers, as he has been one of their most consistent players and also one of their top scorers.
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The Lakers’ next game will be on Friday against the Indiana Pacers. With a lot of injuries, we could see some interesting lineups for the Lakers depending on who is in and who is out.