The Los Angeles Lakers have been destroyed by injuries for much of this season and one of the biggest and most unfortunate came in the form Kendrick Nunn.
The Lakers signed Nunn to a two-year contract this offseason and he was expected to play a big role for the team off the bench this season.
Unfortunately, Nunn suffered a bone bruise to his right knee and has yet to make his regular-season debut for the purple and gold. With Trevor Ariza seemingly making progress on a return to the court soon, it made sense that many would begin wondering about a return for Nunn as well, but it seems like that is still not on the horizon.
“Probably not, but there’s no firm timeline on that,” Lakers head coach Frank Vogel said after a recent practice when asked if Nunn would be able to return before the end of the calendar year. “We’ll see. I would say probably not.”
This is an unfortunate update on a player who could really make a difference for the Lakers, particularly on the defensive end. Nunn is a player who has shown the ability to defend at a high level while also being a capable scorer and solid 3-point shooter, the exact type of player the Lakers could use.
When it was originally announced that Nunn had suffered the bone bruise, the Lakers said he would be re-evaluated in a couple of weeks and overall it seemed like the injury wasn’t too serious. But now six weeks later, he is still pretty far away from returning to the court and it is cause for concern.
The Lakers have always tended to lean on the more cautious side with injuries, but it seems safe to say that the injury to Nunn was more serious than initially believed. Hopefully he will be able to make his return not long after the new year begins and help the Lakers turn this season around.
Vogel says Nunn &Ariza will have opportunity upon return to Lakers
While it is still unclear exactly when Nunn, or Ariza for that matter, will return to the court for the Lakers, one thing that was made clear by Vogel is that each will have the chance to make an impact for this team.
“They’re gonna have to opportunity and obviously you can’t make any true evaluations until you see what they look like with our group,” the Lakers head coach said. “But we signed them to be contributors and when they get healthy they’re gonna get the opportunity to.”
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