Lakers News: Lonzo Ball Injury Update Has Rookie Point Guard Sidelined For More Time
The Los Angeles Lakers’ injury update for Lonzo Ball indicates that the rookie point guard is expected to miss more time. Ball has missed games since mid-January, and his team has gone 4-4 without him in the lineup. Overall, the team has a 4-10 record this NBA season without him in the lineup. Here are the latest details on Ball’s injury situation, the amount of time he’s going to miss, and the impact on the Lakers’ schedule or record.
On Thursday, ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk reported that Ball will be sidelined due to a strained left MCL. That means he won’t participate in the rest of the team’s remaining games on their road trip. It’s speculated that the Los Angeles Lakers point guard will miss “at least two more games.” As of this report, he’s already missed eight straight games dating back to a knee injury suffered on January 13 against the Dallas Mavericks.
The upcoming games that Lonzo Ball will miss at the very least are Friday against the Brooklyn Nets and Sunday against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Ball has been participating in some shooting on the court as well as getting treatments but isn’t part of the team’s full practices just yet.
Lonzo Ball: 13 PTS, 9 REB, 6 AST#LakeShow pic.twitter.com/79Bo8hnLbI
— NBA (@NBA) January 12, 2018
Lakers head coach Luke Walton said of the situation, “Today was our last real practice. Saturday will be a [scheduled light] shootaround [practice]. He will not play before he practices, so he is out until at least we get home.”
The next scheduled home game for the Los Angeles Lakers is on Tuesday of next week. They’ll host the Phoenix Suns for that game and then host the Thunder two days later at the Staples Center. It’s possible that Lonzo Ball could be back in the Lakers’ lineup for those home contests, but a lot will come down to how the injury treatment and recovery fares over the remainder of this week and weekend.
? Head coach Luke Walton gives an injury update on Lonzo Ball and talks about what the team needs to clean up heading into the game against the Nets. pic.twitter.com/Hj57kVHjpi
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) February 1, 2018
For the 2017-18 NBA season, the Lakers are 19-31 overall. The team has lost two straight games on the road against Orlando, 127-105 and at Toronto, 123-111. Prior to that, they’d gone on an impressive four-game winning streak, without Ball in the lineup.
Lonzo Ball hasn’t put up Rookie of the Year numbers, but his impact has been a boost to the team in terms of playmaking abilities. The No. 2 draft pick in last summer’s NBA draft has been the team’s top assist leader with 7.1 per game over his 36 games played. Tyler Ennis has been filling in for the team in the starting lineup as they await the return of their potential future star.
