Los Angeles Lakers: Team not taking any chances with Lonzo Ball injury

Recent indications suggest that Los Angeles Lakers’ point guard Lonzo Ball is still not fully recovered from a knee injury he sustained in mid-January.

All signs pointing to Los Angeles Lakers’ point guard Lonzo Ball reveal one common trend right now. The latest rumors regarding the Lakers’ rookie indicate that Ball’s injured knee is taking longer than expected to heal.

On January 13 against the Dallas Mavericks, the 20-year-old sustained a MCL sprain. As a result, the former UCLA Bruin has not seen any action on the hardwood since.

Earlier this season Ball missed six consecutive contests on account of an injured left shoulder. The purple and gold did not accrue a single win over that stretch.

This time around things have thankfully fared a little bit better for Los Angeles. While injuries are never ideal, the Lakers have learned to win without their primary floor general.

Following Sunday’s exciting 108-104 road win over the OKC Thunder, the Lakers sit at 6-4 since Ball hurt his MCL.

Before said win occurred, head coach Luke Walton caught up with Los Angeles Times reporter Tania Ganguli. In the interview Walton granted the media with the following information about his 20-year-old point guard.

"“There was some times where we had him push it a little bit and he felt something,” Walton said. “Whether or not he could have pushed through it, we decided just as soon as he felt something to cut it back right then and just stick to the things he didn’t feel anything doing.”"

Relative to the above mentioned pushing, the team is said to have challenged Ball’s knee to some extent while in Toronto. However, the series of tests he experienced in Toronto gave him some discomfort.

Information along these lines suggests Ball may not be prepared to play for at least another couple games. That being said, it is not hard to tell that this injury is perhaps a bit worse than originally anticipated.

Granted worse injuries could happen, Ball has already missed several weeks in a row. Ganguli’s article reveals that average MCL sprains require one to three weeks to recuperate. Thus, Ball has already reached the latter side of the spectrum.

Thankfully, though, the long, lanky second-year forward Brandon Ingram has stepped up of late in Ball’s absence. Friday evening’s triumph over Brooklyn certainly demonstrated that. Overall, B.I. distributed a total of 10 dimes that night.

Ingram’s playmaking abilities were also on display in the recent Thunder matchup. He continued to facilitate and finished the game with five assists.

This is relieving news given that Tyler Ennis had been struggling during his stint as a starter. Dan Duangdao of ClutchPoints recently exhibited that Ennis’ poor play led to this role switch of sorts.

Even so, most fans would agree that Ball is the best playmaker L.A. has. In conjunction with this, Ball is their best asset with respect to keeping things at a fast pace.

Nevertheless, Walton’s comments denote that Ball is not quite ready to speed up his activity yet. He is not willing to take that gamble.

Lakers Nation writer Harrison Faigen grasps why the Lakers are not willing to risk Ball’s health. In a recent article he composed, Faigen asserts that L.A. is thinking long term.

"They clearly miss their hoped-to-be franchise point guard, even if he’s struggled to shoot. Still, the Lakers have to show caution with Ball because of just how much they’re banking on him.The front office is clearly hoping Ball will be one of the Lakers’ major contributors on their road back to respectability, but he can’t lead them there if he can’t play or is dealing with nagging injuries."

There is a wonderful, almost unexplainable quality that emerges when players tough their way through injuries. On the other hand, it is understandable as to why L.A. is being safe with Ball.

Indeed, Ball projects to be one of their main options down the line. It is therefore pivotal that this MCL injury gets a bit better than it is. Considering Ball recently struggled to get through some drills the other day, it is not hard to decipher that he would not succeed in real action.

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Without a doubt, this stinks because the Lakers are better with Ball on the playing confines. Despite that truth, the purple and gold may be thanking themselves later for being careful in their approach.