Los Angeles Lakers: 3 biggest hurdles to overcome in the regular season

3. Filling in the voids left behind by injuries

Trevor Ariza, Wayne Ellington, Talen Horton-Tucker, Kendrick Nunn and Malik Monk. Those are five Lakers players that are currently out with injuries. Ariza is out for the next two months or so after having surgery on his right ankle, Horton-Tucker will be reevaluated in a month after having surgery on his thumb and Ellington is dealing with a hamstring strain that’s kept him out of the starting lineup.

Vogel hopes that Kendrick Nunn, who has a right ankle sprain, and Malik Monk, who is working through a right groin sprain, will be available on opening night. There’s a lot going on there for a team that is trying to adjust to having new players.

Kent Bazemore and Austin Reaves have stepped up in the face of Los Angeles’ injuries, but that’s not going to be enough. Kent will likely continue to start for the Lakers heading into the start of the year, but Reaves is a rookie that has yet to play in a regular season game. Injuries are inevitable and Los Angeles has already been dealt a few tough blows.

The Lakers signed forward Sekou Doumbouya to a two-way contract and he should be able to develop within the organization, but he’ll be a work-in-progress for quite some time. Players can go down at any moment and it’s an issue that all 30 teams will have to face at some point in the year if they haven’t already, but the Lakers have a particularly difficult challenge ahead of them.