The Los Angeles Lakers are dealing with a nasty case of the injury big at the moment.
A whopping 10 players — Anthony Davis, LeBron James, Taurean Prince, Jarred Vanderbilt, Jalen Hood-Schifino, Gabe Vincent, Maxwell Lewis, Rui Hachimura, Cam Reddish and D’Angelo Russell — are listed on the Lakers’ injury report ahead of their game against the San Antonio Spurs on Friday.
Vanderbilt made his first appearance of the 2023-24 regular season against the Houston Rockets. He missed the first month-plus of the season due to a heel injury and is averaging 1.3 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.0 assist per game this season while shooting 28.6 percent from the field.
Arguably his best game of the season so far came against the Indiana Pacers in an In-Season Tournament matchup back on Dec. 9. He didn’t score a point but finished with four rebounds, one assist, one steal and two blocks in 16 minutes of playing time.
Vincent is another player who hasn’t seen the floor much for the Lakers this season due to injury. He has been limited to just four appearances due to a knee injury and hasn’t played since he logged 25 minutes against the Orlando Magic back on Oct. 30.
Before going down with a knee injury, Vincent was really struggling to score the ball efficiently. He is averaging just 6.0 points per game this season while shooting 39.3 percent from the floor and 7.1 percent from behind the 3-point arc.
While it’s unfortunate that the Lakers could be without several key rotation players against the Spurs, Friday’s game would still be winnable even if a few players were sidelined for Los Angeles. After all, the Spurs own the worst record of any team in the Western Conference right now at 3-20 and have lost 18 games in a row.
After taking on the Spurs, the Lakers will host Jalen Brunson, Julius Randle and the New York Knicks on Dec. 18. The Knicks own a 13-10 record and lost their most recent game against the Utah Jazz on Wednesday by a final score of 117-113.
