The Los Angeles Lakers announced that D’Angelo Russell has been ruled out of Saturday afternoon’s game against the Golden State Warriors with a right ankle sprain.
It will mark the fifth straight game missed for Russell, who injured the ankle the last time the Lakers played the Warriors at Crypto.com Arena.
The Lakers originally said that it would not be a serious injury, but it appears the healing process is going slower than had hoped for Russell.
Darvin Ham did offer a positive update before Friday night’s game though, saying Russell has begun ramping up by scrimmaging with the team’s “stay ready” group.
“We set up some playgroups for him. We don’t want to have a guy go from not playing in an NBA game to throwing him back out there. There’s steps such as playgroups that we have to see how he responds to that, how his body responds to the ankle specifically and we’ll go from there. And he’s in the process of doing all that.”
With only 18 games to play, the Lakers are running out of time to get back in the postseason picture. Every game matters, so it’s unfortunate that Russell is still unable to play for L.A. Ankle injuries can be tricky though, so there’s no choice but to keep him out until he’s 100% healthy.
In the absence of both Russell and LeBron James, two of the best playmakers on the team, the Lakers have struggled offensively. Dennis Schroder has been the team’s primary ball-handler and point guard for the time being, but he recently has been dealing with an ankle sprain of his own and could use some help.
With Russell missing Sunday’s game against the Golden State Warriors, the next possible opportunity for a return is on Tuesday against the Memphis Grizzlies.
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