In Game 1 of the Los Angeles Lakers’ second-round series against the Oklahoma City Thunder, forward Jarred Vanderbilt suffered an awful injury. While trying to block a shot, Vanderbilt’s right pinky got caught on the backboard, leading to a full dislocation of the finger with the bone breaking the skin which caused many on the Thunder bench to look away in disgust.
Vanderbilt would miss the next game, but was able to suit up for the final two games of the series, playing a couple minutes in the Game 4 loss that ended the Lakers’ season. And afterwards, Vanderbilt felt good, noting that he did everything he could to return for the team.
“I feel good,” Vanderbilt said after the loss. “It’s been almost a week now, so made some good progress and I tried to do everything possible to get back out there for the team.”
The Lakers were obviously shorthanded without Luka Doncic, so the team really needed everybody locked in to have a chance at stealing a game from the defending champions. Vanderbilt understood that and worked hard to be there for his teammates in the end.
But Vanderbilt was in good spirits despite what he described as a freak accident and was proud that he was able to get back on the court just a week later.
“It’s been a lot,” Vanderbilt admitted. “Obviously something like that is a freak accident, you don’t see that every day. But yeah, it honestly was the best case scenario for that type of injury. Like I said, I was able to pull it together this last week and we did some rehab and I was able to get out there tonight.”
Vanderbilt was in and out of the rotation this season, but any time JJ Redick called on him, the forward brought a level of energy and intensity that few can match. And that mindset carried over into his rehab and desire to return from a truly gruesome injury. The fact that he was able to accomplish that, and give the Lakers anything in Game 4 is a credit to what Vanderbilt is all about.
Lakers interested in maintaining Marcus Smart this offseason
One of the players who brings that same attitude and energy as Vanderbilt is veteran guard Marcus Smart who has a player option worth $5.39 million that he can opt-out of. And if he were to do so and hit free agency, the Lakers reportedly want to bring him back.
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