LOS ANGELES – Things continue to get worse for the Los Angeles Lakers on the injury front with another one of their top players going down on Wednesday night against the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder.

As if being without LeBron James and Rajon Rondo wasn't bad enough for the Lakers, up-and-coming forward Kyle Kuzma suffered a back injury in the first half and didn't return. Kuzma played only 16 minutes before being ruled out for the game despite his best efforts to continue playing.

Head coach Luke Walton provided an update on Kuzma's injury after the game.

“He has a contusion on his lower back,” Walton said of Kuzma's injury. “He going to get an MRI on it in the morning. We will find out more then. He said he got hit somewhere during the game. You could notice he was starting to limp in those last couple of minutes he was playing. He said he was fine but [the training staff] worked on him during halftime and they said no-go.”

Kuzma finished with four points and three steals on Wednesday night and could miss some time which will be costly for the Lakers moving forward. The second-year forward has been vital to the team's success this season and is currently averaging 18.3 points per game which is second on the team behind LeBron James (27.3 ppg).

Depending on whether Kuzma will have to miss time, Brandon Ingram will have to shoulder even more of the scoring load in the coming games.

“It makes it tough,” Ingram said of losing Kuzma to an injury. “Of course, we have a lot of guys out and we just try to figure out different ways to attack the paint. On the defensive end, just try to make small adjustments so that we can be effective in each part of the game.”

The injury couldn't have come at a worse time for Los Angeles with the team now having lost three out of four games without LeBron on the floor.

The Lakers will now play host to the New York Knicks on Friday followed by two games on the road against the Minnesota Timberwolves and Dallas Mavericks before returning back to Staples Center on Jan. 9 to take on the Utah Jazz.