Los Angeles Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt left Game 1 of their second round series against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the second quarter with a right finger injury. Vanderbilt’s right hand got caught on the backboard as he tried to block a shot and he was in a lot of pain as he left the court.
The replay of the incident looked rough as a boned appeared to break through his skin and trainers put a towel over Vanderbilt’s hand to walk him off the court. And now it has officially been ruled as a full dislocation of the right pinky finger for Vanderbilt, via Shams Charania of ESPN:
Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt has sustained a full dislocation of his right pinky finger in a gruesome injury tonight, sources tell ESPN.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) May 6, 2026
This is unfortunate for Vanderbilt and a tough way to go out. It was a complete fluke injury, but one that was gruesome enough that the replay was shown just once on TV. Additionally, as Vanderbilt walked by the Thunder bench players were turning away, not being able to look at his hand. Head coach JJ Redick did note, however, that Vanderbilt is in good spirits all things considered.
“I just talked to him,” Redick said after the game. “He’s in as good of spirits as you can be in this situation, obviously frustrated with what happened… I went to go check on him because it just looked bad. I mean, he was audibly screaming and knew he had done something. We’re obviously disappointed that happened and it’s just a freak injury.”
Redick turned to Vanderbilt in hopes of giving the Lakers a bit of an energy boost against the defending champion Thunder who are heavy favorites in this series. Vanderbilt’s attitude and style of play is exactly what the Lakers needed, but unfortunately he will be out now.
The Lakers were unable to take down the Thunder in Game 1, falling 108-90 despite having great energy and effort throughout the night. But this team, without superstar Luka Doncic, has no room for error and they just didn’t have enough to keep up in Game 1.
It will be interesting to see if Redick gives someone else a look in the rotation with Vanderbilt out. He was already on the fringe, with Luke Kennard, Jake LaRavia and Jaxson Hayes being the only reserves getting consistent minutes in the postseason so far. But perhaps Redick can give a shot to a young player like Bronny James or Adou Thiero, or a veteran such as Maxi Kleber, to see if he can provide that boost this team needs.
Lakers coach JJ Redick focused on limiting Thunder scoring runs
The Lakers know they have an uphill battle in front of them and one thing Redick is focused on is limiting the big scoring runs the Thunder are known for.
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