Los Angeles Lakers sophomore Kyle Kuzma is incredibly sad that his teammate, Brandon Ingram, will not be playing again this season.
The 2018-2019 season has not been a kind one to the Los Angeles Lakers. Among the adversity the team has endured has been on the injury front.
The Lakers have had a swarm of injuries this year that are seemingly too high of a number to count. However, a recent setback the Lakers experienced was unlike any other one thus far.
Not even a week ago, the Lakers were given some serious, gut-wrenching news regarding wiry small forward Brandon Ingram. The team announced that Ingram would miss the rest of the campaign on account of a deep venous thrombosis diagnosis (DVT).
In simpler terms, it was discovered that Ingram is suffering from a blood clot in his upper right extremity. The thought of that happening to anyone sounds awful, but it is especially surprising in B.I.’s case. The athlete is only 21 years of age.
Earlier signs of Ingram’s condition arose around the beginning of last week. The lanky Laker was penciled out of two straight games via soreness in his shoulder.
Needless to say, though, no one would have ever surmised that the soreness stemmed from something like a blood clot. If anything, it simply appeared to be an indicator that with it being so late in the season, Ingram’s body was starting to feel it.
Ingram’s DVT takes things to a whole different level. As Matthew Moreno of Lakers Nation transcribed, LeBron James recently shed light on the problem B.I. has been subjected to. James noted an extremely key word given the circumstances: “perspective.”
Certainly, it is a piece of cake to ruminate on the team’s on the court issues this season. Things have not always been that pretty, let’s be honest.
Be that as it may, the fact that a player is dealing with something significantly worse than say, a broken finger, speaks wonder. The hand Ingram has been dealt here is utterly incomprehensible.
Second-year Lakers’ standout Kyle Kuzma is cognizant of just how tough things are for his teammate right now. Per Kyle Goon of the Southern California News Group (via Moreno’s transcription), Kuzma recently invested a moment to share how bad he feels for Brandon.
"“I was real sad. It hits home for me because I know how much Brandon works, I know how bad he wants to be great, I know much he loves the game of basketball. He never sits out at practice, he’s always in the gym. He can’t do nothing for at least, I don’t know how long they said, to be on blood thinners and not do anything — I couldn’t imagine what it’s like so I feel for him every day.”"
Kyle brought up a crucial point upon the reference of the third-year player’s work ethic. Ingram’s time in the gym was really starting to pay dividends following the All-Star break.
Prior to being sidelined due to this horrible plight, No. 14 was playing the best basketball of his young NBA career. Since the All-Star festivities passed, he was averaging nearly 28 points a night. Not too bad, if you ask me.
If it is of any encouragement, that small sample size reveals the kind of player B.I. could be. Many expected great things from him when he got out of Duke, and the set of games post the break validated his potential.
Thus, what makes this situation so unfortunate is that he was really starting to make a name for himself. Ingram was beginning to prove to the NBA that he was not just an average player.
Fortunately, according to what Harrison Faigen of SB Nation reported, there has been no indication that Ingram’s basketball career is in jeopardy.
This is at least of some condolence on the grounds that what Ingram has is relatively atypical. On the other hand, the downside is that his return is very much so an unknown. No timetable has been placed upon the 6-foot-9 Laker.
However, Faigen did go on to say that conditions of this caliber tend to not be as worrisome if they are in an upper extremity. Cases that involve lower extremities, such as the legs, generally provide more reason for concern.
At any rate, though, along with Kyle Kuzma and the rest of the Lakers, all bleeders of the purple and gold feel for Ingram right now. The situation he is riding out is unthinkable, and everyone of us hope that the young man can get through this mess.