The Los Angeles Lakers announced that during the course of his return-to-play progression from foot surgery, forward Jarred Vanderbilt developed an effusion in his left knee. This development altered the course of his progression, and the team is currently targeting early January for his return to NBA games.
This is obviously a very unfortunate update on Vanderbilt, who has yet to play this season after undergoing surgery on both of his feet at the start of the offseason. The feet issues limited him to just 29 games last season and he wound up needing surgeries after not being able to return during the playoffs.
At the start of training camp, the Lakers were optimistic that Vanderbilt would be ready for Opening Night. His progress has been slower than expected though and now he has developed a knee injury that will keep him out even longer. While the Lakers are targeting a return in January, that is certainly no guarantee.
With Vanderbilt out, guys like Rui Hachimura, Dalton Knecht, Cam Reddish and Max Christie will all continue to get minutes on the wing for the Lakers. The team has largely struggled defensively, which is an area where Vanderbilt can certainly help but won’t be able to if he is not on the court.
In the summer of 2023, the Lakers inked Vanderbilt to a four-year, $48 million extension that goes through the 2027-28 season. They have yet to see any sort of return on that investment, so hopefully he can get back to 100% and be able to contribute at some point this season.
JJ Redick: Jarred Vanderbilt will be big part of what Lakers do
Whenever Jarred Vanderbilt is healthy enough to return, he is expected to play a big role for the Lakers and head coach JJ Redick broke down what that may look like over the offseason.
“I have. I think the unique thing about Jarred, and a number of really good teams that made deep playoff runs have guys like him, that are energy, defense, ball hawks. He can sort of … I call them energy shifters. He can change the energy of an entire game, and he doesn’t have to do it with scoring, which makes him really unique. I can’t wait to coach him. Obviously he has some rehab to do for the rest of the summer, but when he’s healthy, he’s going to be a big part of what we do.”
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