Lakers have been unfortunate enough this season with injuries and that has hampered their preparations in moving forward. At the beginning of the season, the team had to deal with the uneven balance in their roster. The team did not look like a perfect championship-winning side. But right before the February trade deadline was over the Lakers managed to buy some quality players like D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley, and so on. These players brought the balance that was missing in the group. The Lakers started looking like a team to reckon with a perfect mix of players.
A lot depended on facing no more injury-related troubles. Anthony Davis had missed several games due to an injury he sustained last December. Management revealed he is not totally fit. But AD is getting better. Meantime the leader of the team LeBron James sustained a foot injury at a very bad time when the team was about to turn things around. The all-time leading scorer will stay unavailable for another couple of weeks. But will try to return on March 24 against Oklahoma City Thunder.
Lakers And Its Problems With Injuries
If the 38-year-old leader’s unavailability was not enough then the new recruit 27 years old D’Angelo Russell is also out with an injury. After James was announced that he would not return before March 24 the team was looking at the pair of Anthony Davis and the 27-year-old point guard with less than 20 games remaining in the regular season. But against the Warriors in their previous encounter, Russell sprained his ankle and stayed out ever since.
Russell has now missed five games in a row. Albeit Fans expected him to make a comeback against the Warriors on Sunday. But that was not what happened. The Lakers managed to win against the back-in-form Golden State Warriors with the help of a fiery performance by Anthony Davis. But D’Angelo Russell is still taking time for his recovery.
Coach Darvin Ham On D’Angelo Russell’s Recovery
Head Coach Darvin Ham explained that Russell’s recovery is on the right track but at a gradual speed. The Lakers will need more time to prepare without him in mind. Ham said that there are procedures for getting someone back in the lineup. The player who is coming back from recovery needs monitoring for a certain time till he gets ready to get on the court. Ham explained, “you can’t just throw him out there without giving him a proper time.”
But according to the coach, Russell is getting better and as soon as possible he will make it to the line-up. Till then the Lakers without James and Russell will look up to Anthony Davis to provide them with the boost they need to climb up on the table. AD needs to continue his form after the match against the Warriors. He scored an exhilarating 39 points to get the Lakers over the line. The Lakers are still the 11th seed in the Western Conference with a 31-34 win-loss ratio.
