The Lakers have resembled a M.A.S.H. as much as an NBA team this season with only Austin Reaves and Taurean Prince being available for every game. As we hurtle towards the end of the season I wanted to look at how these injuries have affected the team.
1) Gabe Vincent: knee. Deja vu from Kendrick Nunn, another Miami Heat MLE signing that went all sorts of wrong right off the bat. Limited to 5 games, never looked right, one has to question that even if he could come back if he should given the size and length of his deal. The Lakers have sorely missed a point of attack guard and his overall skill set…until the win the Spencer Dinwiddie sweepstakes. Like Nunn every “about to return” benchmark has come and gone with either no update or worse news.
2) Christian Wood. Maybe the most controversial signing this offseason Wood’s role and impact have fluctuated wildly. Given the variance of his season, the fact he’s been ruled out due to his injury, and his past baggage it’s almost impossible to see him not picking up his player option this summer.
3) Jalen Hood-Schafino. The question of “why” will likely surround JHS until he either plays better or plays some where else. Had no role to speak of, now out for the season, I guess I’m hoping he’s healthy for summer league although what role he has on the team is a mystery to us all.
4) Cam Reddish. While technically not injured it’s obvious he’s still limited. Since he started missing tune due to an ankle injury he’s never looked like the same guy we saw that started the season re-inventing himself as a defensive stalwart who could score at the rim. He’s not scoring at the rim, his defense has slipped back to his older habits and he was never a knock down shooter. Injuries to other guys will likely define his role going forward and he also has a player option I expect him to pick up. Hard to see him getting major minutes or having a large role in the playoffs but you never know. If he can recapture that defensive intensity it opens a lot of doors.
5) Jarred Vanderbilt. Perhaps no Laker has had as much of an impact on the teams fortunes as Vando missing the vast majority of the season. Depending on how much you value the defensive side of the court his impact measures from limited to large. When Vando plays, even with limited minutes, the improvement in the defense is easy to both see and track. When he finally betrayed playing to an average baseline on offense it got real easy to understand why he was awarded that deal this summer. Of all the injured Lakers Jarred is the one referred to the most when after losses. Whether or not he comes back is almost secondary to how long it seems to take him to ramp up and get everything working. If he does come back at all I won’t be surprised if it comes with a minutes limit for the rest of the season/playoffs.
Other Lakers have missed time but none to the degree of the players above. It’s unfortunate because of how available AD and LBJ have been. That we haven’t won more can be traced back to these injuries but also to how the coaching staff has reached and adjusted to them which has been, in my opinion, pretty poorly.
You would have hoped we would have not continued to suffer the injury problems of the past since only two players were over 30 to start the season (James and Davis). Ironically, the older guys have been fine and it’s been the under-30 guys who can’t stay on the court.
Part of the problem is the talent the Lakers needed always comes with costs, be it they’re always injured or can’t play defense or can’t be consistent. At any rate, when you shoot for the moon, the guys you get are more than normal hit and miss players. It’s why the smart move is to build continuity and chemistry.
Of course, the big question is what do we do this summer. With LeBron looking like he can go another couple of years, I think we use our draft capital for a point-of-attack guard and second big to start next to AD rather than a third superstar.
Our top 4 players have been extremely durable this season. Lotta teams would kill for that scenario.