Injuries just keep piling up for the Los Angeles Lakers (9-7), who will be woefully short-handed for their road matchup with the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday. Jarred Vanderbilt has missed the entire season so far with a heel injury, Gabe Vincent (knee) has not played since the end of October and now Rui Hachimura and Cam Reddish are both being sidelined.
Hachimura just underwent surgery for a nasal fracture and Reddish is dealing with a groin injury. Lakers head coach Darvin Ham is well-aware that his team is in for a long night in the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, but he believes LA can still survive.
“We just have to weather the storm,” he told Spectrum SportsNet's Mike Trudell. One can only hope that the Lakers packed their rain coats and galoshes with them to Cleveland.
“We just have to weather the storm,” said Darvin Ham. https://t.co/chKK2Gmr09
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) November 25, 2023
This team knows all too well the negative effects persisting injury problems can have on the basketball product. The front office made sure to bolster the roster's depth over the last several months in order to combat those health issues and ease the burden of LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
Plans don't always work out like you expect, however. James and Davis have played in all but one of the Lakers' 16 games this season. The reinforcements must come at some point, or this squad will likely run out of gas.
Despite the adversity, Los Angeles is 9-7 and has won six of its last eight contests. The Cavs are on the rise as well, though, so Darvin Ham and company will need to rely on star power and good ole' fashioned grit in this one.