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Los Angeles Lakers: Why LA’s two injuries will have a massive impact

By Jason Reed

LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 03: Talen Horton-Tucker #5 of the Los Angeles Lakers drives to the basket during the first half of a pre season game against Paul Millsap #31 of the Brooklyn Nets at Staples Center on October 3, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)(Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 03: Talen Horton-Tucker #5 of the Los Angeles Lakers drives to the basket during the first half of a pre season game against Paul Millsap #31 of the Brooklyn Nets at Staples Center on October 3, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)(Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images) /
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The Los Angeles Lakers have returned to action in games that do not really mean anything. The Lakers have several preseason games under their belt as fans have gotten a small taste of what is in store this season.

The purple and gold has already suffered two huge losses ahead of the 2021-22 season. Trevor Ariza underwent ankle surgery before even playing in a preseason game and will be out for at least eight weeks. Talen Horton-Tucker suffered a torn ligament in his right thumb and will have surgery, leading to around 6-8 weeks of missed action.

Injuries are never good but after both LeBron James and Anthony Davis dealt with injuries last season, injuries to Ariza and THT might not seem like that big of a deal. It definitely feels more manageable than losing a star.

While that is true, there are going to be huge implications from these injuries. Certain role players can get hurt and the Lakers would not even skip a beat. That is not the case with the two players who actually did get hurt.

The Los Angeles Lakers injuries are a bigger deal than it may realize

The domino effect that is going to happen because of the THT and Ariza injuries will impact the players that Laker fans are concerned about — LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

Ariza’s injury hurts the depth of the frontcourt, impacting both James and Davis and how many minutes they are going to play. Because of his defensive capabilities and his versatility to be a three or a four, Ariza was likely going to log at least 25 minutes per game.

Now the Lakers have 25 minutes that they have to allocate elsewhere. While the team signed Sekou Doumbouya, there really are not any players on the roster to outright give those minutes to. It is only going to increase the workload for LeBron and AD, which is the last thing the Lakers want to do early in the year.

It is going to be even worse for Davis, whose only real backup at the four (prior to the Doumbouya signing) was Carmelo Anthony, who is not even a traditional four.

THT could have helped as he is versatile and could have logged minutes at the three for the Lakers. His ball-handling ability passing ability also could have been useful in keeping LeBron’s effort down. Even if LeBron was playing, THT could have taken some of the workload off of him by helping run the offense.

That is not going to happen now. Russell Westbrook and Kendrick Nunn will still help in that regard but the Lakers did lose important depth in THT.

Not only are these injuries going to potentially have a negative impact on the team’s record to start the year, but they force the Lakers to add more miles on their stars, which could have implications later in the season and in the playoffs.

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It is hard to completely avoid the injury bug and every team is going to have to overcome a hurdle similar to this. The Los Angeles Lakers just better hope that it does not create an even larger hurdle.

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