The Los Angeles Lakers have been without Jarred Vanderbilt since last February as he’s been recovering from a foot injury. Vanderbilt has undergone procedures on both of his feet and the last time he suited up for the Lakers was back on Feb. 1.

But as far as the 2024-25 season is concerned, the plan remains for Vanderbilt to be ready for the season opener. Following Lakers practice on Saturday, head coach JJ Redick told assembled media that Vanderbilt has begun to ramp up his workouts in anticipation of the start of the season.

“He’s following our ramp-up protocol. He has not done any contact work, he’s not participated in any non-contact in practice, but we’re still trying to target the beginning of the season,” Redick said. “If he doesn’t have any setbacks, we’ll continue to ramp up. Our ram-up process, we’re on sort of target. It remains to be seen if he’ll be available. But no setbacks, and he just continues to work his way back.”

Jarred Vanderbilt was sidelined to begin the 2023-24 season due to a heel injury. He made his season debut on Dec. 2, but was limited to only 29 games before he suffered a foot injury. That injury kept him out for the remainder of the year including the Lakers first round playoff series against the Denver Nuggets.

He was ultimately cleared to return for Game 5 of the first round, but did not make an appearance on the court.

Jarred Vanderbilt key to Lakers’ success this season

Los Angeles Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt (2) during warmups before the game against the New Orleans Pelicans at Smoothie King Center.
Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

Simply put, if the Lakers want to have a successful season, they’re going to need Jarred Vanderbilt healthy and back from injury. There isn’t another player on the roster who possesses the type of defensive versatility that Vanderbilt does.

At 6 feet 9 inches and 214 pounds, Vanderbilt has the quickness and mobility as well as the length and skill to defend multiple positions.

Where the questions have come though is on the offensive end. While Vanderbilt has been an efficient offensive player in terms of percentages, his scoring opportunities come largely from off-ball movement and activity around the rim. He hasn’t been quite able to make himself a consistent shooting threat.

But right before he was sidelined in February, he had a stretch where he scored in double figures in five of six games. Back during Lakers media day, he spoke about how that stretch is the standard he wants to reach this season.

“That was just me taking advantage of the opportunity that I had. . .obviously it’s going to take some time to get back to that level of play,” Vanderbilt said. “That’s the goal. I think I was shooting in the right direction before I went down, and I would like to get back to that and progress and build from there.”

In the 29 games Vanderbilt was available last season, he averaged 5.2 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.2 steals with splits of 51.8 percent shooting from the field, 29.6 percent shooting from three-point range and 66.7 percent shooting from the free-throw line.