The Los Angeles Lakers have been hit hard by the injury bug in the 2021 season. LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Dennis Schroder, and Talen Horton-Tucker have all missed time in recent games with various injuries. Now, it's Kyle Kuzma, who is out for Sunday's game with lower back tightness, according to Marc Stein of The New York Times. 

The Lakers have a tough matchup against the Suns as LA hopes to find some way to avoid the play-in tournament. For Phoenix, their goal is the number one overall seed in the Western Conference after a fantastic year. The addition of Chris Paul has immediately vaulted them to contention, and with key injuries to teams such as the Denver Nuggets, Golden State Warriors, and the Lakers, the stage is set for someone else to come out on top.

The injury to Kuzma is big, especially considering his consistency and the fact he has only missed a couple of games on the season. Kuzma is averaging 12.8 points with 6.2 rebounds and has been thrown into the starting lineup.

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LeBron recently returned from injury just to re-aggravate it and be forced out of the lineup once again. Davis returned and scared everybody by leaving a game early, just to suit up for the next game and play terrifically against the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday.

Nonetheless, Frank Vogel's team is not enjoying this season with the rash number of injuries. One thing after another it seems like, and the Lakers are hoping they can get healthy before the playoffs begin as they aim to repeat as NBA Champions.