Injuries piled up for the Los Angeles Lakers during last year’s preseason, foreshadowing the nightmares of the 2021-22 campaign. Although the situation doesn’t look as severe this year, L.A. will seemingly start the season banged up again.
Back issues have kept Anthony Davis out of two games so far, and cost Troy Brown Jr. the entire preseason. An ankle sprain delayed Lonnie Walker IV’s Lakers debut — and the guard seems to have re-aggravated the injury in Wednesday’s loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Meanwhile, Spectrum SportsNet’s Mike Trudell reports that Juan Toscano-Anderson didn’t play a single minute against the Timberwolves because he bruised his back after falling on the court against the Golden State Warriors on Sunday:
Juan Toscano-Anderson didn’t play tonight due to a bruised lower back that resulted from a fall on the court on Sunday against Golden State.
He’ll be evaluated tomorrow before his status for Friday’s preseason finale is determined.
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) October 13, 2022
The Purple and Gold played with four guards on the court for parts of the 118-113 loss to Minnesota as, with Brown and Toscano-Anderson injured, none of their backup wings were available.
Still, the Lakers struggled to knock down shots, making just 44.6% of their field goal attempts and 25.6% of attempted triples. L.A. also committed 20 turnovers as the offense again looked out of sync, just six days before the Opening Night clash against the Golden State Warriors.
However, LeBron James and Anthony Davis had an efficient night themselves, going 16-for-23 on the night combined and both finishing with a double-double.
Ham provides update on Walker’s ankle injury
Walker was putting in another solid preseason performance, scoring 12 points in 19 minutes. However, he left the game early after Patrick Beverley fell on his leg, seemingly causing the former San Antonio Spurs guard to sprain his left ankle again.
But after the game, head coach Darvin Ham said that early signs point to Walker avoiding a significant injury.
“I think he has a mildly sprained ankle,” Ham said. “He’ll be re-evaluated tomorrow and then we’ll go from there. He said he was OK, he was standing up and just waiting in the hallway, he and Juan [Toscano-Anderson], to greet their teammates, telling them ‘way to compete’ and ‘finish strong.’
“While he was in the hallway I asked him if he was OK and he said yeah, he was fine. They’re saying it’s just mild but we’ll see. Again, it can be totally different when he wakes up in the morning.”
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