The Los Angeles Lakers are in the midst of a six-game road trip and after winning the first two legs of the trip, Los Angeles is going to be without a key role player for the remaining four games.
Back-up big man Wenyen Gabriel was originally listed as questionable for Tuesday’s game against the Cleveland Cavaliers with a left shoulder sprain. On Tuesday morning, Gabriel was downgraded as out not only for the Cavaliers game but for the upcoming stretch of road games.
Gabriel is going to be re-evaluated in a week, which is going to be the same day as the Lakers return home to host the red-hot Boston Celtics. Gabriel will be out against the Cavs, Toronto Raptors, Philadelphia 76ers and Detroit Pistons.
Gabriel, who’s been a key bench rotation player, will be re-evaluated in about one week, which means he’ll miss the next three games on L.A.‘s road trip (at CLE, TOR and DET). https://t.co/UPszg4x3bD
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) December 6, 2022
The Lakers injury news could have been worse than Wenyen Gabriel.
While the Lakers are going to have to patch together Wenyen Gabriel‘s minutes in the rotation with other players, this is something that the team can certainly survive. Gabriel has become a key member of the rotation but Los Angeles can easily make up his minutes for a three-game span and potentially not lose that much of an impact.
Los Angeles cannot replace LeBron James and Anthony Davis, both of which were listed as probable for Wednesday’s game. LeBron was the key player in question as he is dealing with a sore ankle that was aggravated in the fourth quarter against the Washington Wizards.
LeBron seems to be okay though as he is going to play against his former team on Tuesday night. However, with his age and how he had responded to lingering ailments over the last two seasons, it would not be surprising to see the team give LeBron a break at some point during this road trip.
Los Angeles does have a back-to-back as they play the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday. Depending on how James and his ankle feel, I would not be surprised to see him out of action against the Raptors just out of an abundance of caution.
But then again, LeBron is also a freak of nature that keeps changing what we thought we knew about players aging in the NBA, so his ankle might be magically healed and he could be good to go two nights in a row.
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Regardless, it could have been worse. The Lakers can get by without Gabriel for a few games and hopefully it does not derail the team’s momentum.