The Los Angeles Lakers have been hit by the injury bug early this season and one of the players that has been out is rookie Cole Swider.
The sharpshooter signed a two-way contract with the Lakers after the draft and had an impressive Summer League and training camp.
Unfortunately, he has not been able to carry that over to the regular season as he suffered a navicular stress reaction in his right foot early on.
It seems that Swider is making progress in his rehab though as he told Lakers Nation at South Bay Lakers Media Day on Thursday that he is no longer wearing a boot on his foot and will be reevaluated in two weeks.
“Hopefully two or three weeks. I’m being reevaluated after two more weeks with another MRI on my foot. So after that, I’ll be able to kind of tell my timetable but for now it’s just getting reevaluated in two weeks, got my boot off today so that’s a step in the right direction,” Swider said.
Everyone knows that Swider can shoot the ball, which may be of help to the Lakers once he returns. His focus right now is on getting healthy though and once that happens he wants to work on his game with the South Bay Lakers so he can contribute to the parent team at some point.
“Obviously right now I’m just trying to get healthy,” Swider said of his focus. “I’ve been out the past two weeks but overall, when I get back on the court I think the biggest question mark for me is just defensively. Just trying to get better defensively, trying to be a good team defender. I’m not gonna be the best 1-on-1 defender but just trying to get better overall.
“And then just expanding my game. I kind of think the G League is a great opportunity for me and Scotty to work on things we might not be able to do with LeBron and AD and Russ. So I think overall just trying to improve on everything but obviously just work on the things that you can control.”
Considering the Lakers have a roster full of veterans that require playing time, Swider’s time with South Bay this season will be vital in his development so he can get consistent minutes. Hopefully he doesn’t have any setbacks with the foot issue and will be back on the court in a couple of weeks.
Schroder to be evaluated in one week
One of the Lakers’ other injured players is Dennis Schroder, who underwent surgery to fix a thumb issue. He appears to be nearing a return though as the Lakers said he will be evaluated next week.
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