L.A. Lakers Rumors: Larry Nance Jr. Injury Will Sideline Him From NBA Season For Over A Month

The latest Los Angeles Lakers rumors indicate that a recent Larry Nance Jr. injury could sideline the NBA player for many weeks. Nance suffered a fractured hand recently which required surgery today. With the Lakers already struggling in the early part of their season, Nance’s absence could lead to even more losses piling up as he recovers from his surgery and rehabilitation.

On Friday, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski broke the news that Nance could be out of action anywhere from four to six weeks. His official injury is a fractured second metacarpal in his left hand. The injury occurred Thursday night in the team’s loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. Nance exited the game with under four minutes to go in the third quarter. He participated for 19 minutes of the game scoring seven points on 3-for-4 shooting, while also getting five rebounds and four personal fouls.

Larry Nance Jr. is the son of former NBA All-Star Larry Nance who spent considerable time playing for the Phoenix Suns and Cleveland Cavaliers in the 1980s and ’90s. For the current NBA season, Nance Jr. is averaging 10.6 points and 7.5 rebounds as a starter. This is his third season with the L.A. Lakers and first as part of the starting lineup. For his NBA career, he’s averaged 6.6 points and 5.5 rebounds per game.

As far as who head coach Luke Walton was planning to bring into the starting lineup to replace the loss of Nance, the Lakers coach didn’t give an answer ahead of their next game.

“I have always been a believer that it’s not just the next best player, how does it affect second units, how does that affect the starting unit and what we are trying to do. There are a lot of variables to decide between, so we will figure that out in the next day.”

In terms of possibilities, Walton could elect to start Julius Randle again as he’d been coming off the bench. The other options include using Luol Deng, Corey Brewer, or rookie Kyle Kuzma in the Lakers’ starting lineup.

On Friday night, the Los Angeles Lakers are scheduled to host the Brooklyn Nets at the Staples Center in California with game time at 10:30 p.m. Eastern Time or 7:30 p.m. Pacific Time.

[Featured Image by Harry How/Getty Images]