There was good and bad coming out of the Los Angeles Lakers’ 103-93 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night. Brandon Ingram returned and looked good in his first action in nearly a month, but point guard Lonzo Ball left the game in the second half and never returned.
Ball suffered what the team called a knee contusion in the third quarter, checking out and then going to the locker room before the fourth. It was an unfortunate situation as the Lakers finally seem to be getting back healthy and losing Ball would be a major blow to that.
Lakers head coach Luke Walton said the rookie point guard was set to undergo a precautionary MRI on his left knee. “The doc thinks he’s going to be OK,” Walton added. Ball experienced the discomfort as a result of being hit in the back of his knee on a back screen.
Walton intends to determine the player who failed to alert Ball of the screen, so that he will run suicides in practice.
It would almost be ironic if the Lakers were to lose both of their point guards right as they get healthy on the wing. On Wednesday afternoon the team announced Isaiah Thomas was bound for season-ending hip surgery.
With Ingram now back in the fold, rookie Josh Hart is looking to get back on the court after recovering from a broken bone in his hand. Playing Friday would be big for the Lakers as he has been an excellent defender and shooter this season.
Nonetheless it looks as if this is something minor for Ball and he should be fine going forward. But with just eight games left and the Lakers being officially eliminated from playoff contention, they will play it safe if there is any risk to Ball playing through the matter.
The left knee is the one Ball suffered a sprained MCL in, which caused him to miss six weeks.
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