The Los Angeles Lakers have been without some key pieces to start the 2024-25 season as both Jarred Vanderbilt and Christian Wood are dealing with injuries.
After missing most of last season with foot issues, Vanderbilt underwent surgeries on both feet at the start of the offseason and is still working to make his way back.
While it is not ideal to be without Vanderbilt once again to start this season, the Lakers will be cautious to ensure he is 100% healthy whenever he does return to avoid it being a lingering issue.
The original hope was that he would be ready for Opening Night but that obviously wasn’t the case. Lakers head coach JJ Redick provided the first update on Vanderbilt in a while before Friday’s game against the Toronto Raptors and although the 25-year-old is making progress, he doesn’t seem to be nearing a return just yet, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“He’s progressing. He’s had some minor discomfort. No setbacks. I think the discomfort is normal as he has ramped up his activities on the court given that he’s coming off two surgeries. He’s progressing, but I don’t think he’s a day or two away from playing. We’ll have another update in a week or so.”
Vanderbilt is arguably the Lakers’ best perimeter defender so getting him back will be essentially considering they have struggled in that area to begin the season.
While Vanderbilt progressing slower than expected isn’t ideal, if there wasn’t a setback then he should still be back soon to give the Lakers a boost.
Until then, guys like Max Christie, Gabe Vincent and Dalton Knecht will continue to play key minutes for Redick off the bench.
JJ Redick: Jarred Vanderbilt will be big part of what Lakers do
Whenever Jarred Vanderbilt is healthy enough to return, he is expected to play a big role for the Lakers and head coach JJ Redick broke down what that may look like over the offseason.
“I have. I think the unique thing about Jarred, and a number of really good teams that made deep playoff runs have guys like him, that are energy, defense, ball hawks. He can sort of … I call them energy shifters. He can change the energy of an entire game, and he doesn’t have to do it with scoring, which makes him really unique. I can’t wait to coach him. Obviously he has some rehab to do for the rest of the summer, but when he’s healthy, he’s going to be a big part of what we do.”
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