The Los Angeles Lakers announced that Mo Bamba has been upgraded to doubtful for Tuesday night’s game against the Utah Jazz.
Even though Bamba still likely won’t be able to play given his doubtful tag, it shows that he has been making progress and is nearing a return from a high right ankle sprain.
Bamba originally suffered the injury during the game against the Golden State Warriors on March 5 and the team said he would be reevaluated in four weeks.
The Lakers have not given any official update on Bamba since then, although it does appear he went through some sort of evaluation and is making good progress considering he has been upgraded to doubtful.
L.A. begins their final back-to-back of the season on Tuesday against the Jazz before returning to Crypto.com Arena to play the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday.
Bamba will likely go through a pregame workout to see if he is healthy enough to play against the Jazz but if he’s not then it’s possible he returns the following night against the Clippers.
The Lakers acquired Bamba at the trade deadline in a deal that sent Patrick Beverley and a second-round pick to the Orlando Magic. He was expected to be the team’s primary backup center to Anthony Davis although Bamba was only able to play in seven games before going down with the ankle injury.
With four regular season games to play, Bamba will have a chance to get his legs back under him before the start of the postseason. Wenyen Gabriel has done a nice job as the Lakers’ backup center in recent weeks but is a bit undersized, so there could potentially be playoff matchups where Bamba’s services are needed.
Bamba’s length and ability to stretch the floor is something the Lakers have really missed in his absence, so hopefully the big man can stay healthy for the rest of the season whenever he’s able to return.
Russell downgraded to questionable against Jazz
While Bamba was upgraded on the Lakers’ injury report, D’Angelo Russell was downgraded as he went from probable to questionable due to foot soreness.
Russell missed the second half of the Lakers’ win over the Houston Rockets with the injury although Darvin Ham said it was just precautionary.
While the injury may not be serious, it’s looking like his status for Tuesday night’s game against the Jazz is now in question.
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