The Los Angeles Lakers put out their injury report ahead of Tuesday’s season opener against the Golden State Warriors and it has Anthony Davis (back), LeBron James (left foot) and Russell Westbrook (hamstring) listed as probable while Thomas Bryant (thumb sprain) and Troy Brown Jr. (back) and Dennis Schroder (thumb surgery) are out.
Lakers head coach Darvin Ham has said he expected James and Davis to play with the latter having no restrictions despite missing some time in the preseason with a sore back.
Westbrook hurt his hamstring in the preseason finale against the Sacramento Kings five minutes into his first shift as the Lakers’ sixth man. He was able to participate in practice this week though and now Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports is reporting that Westbrook is expected to play:
Los Angeles Lakers guard Russell Westbrook (hamstring) is expected to play in the season-opener against the Golden State Warriors.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) October 18, 2022
Brown and Schroder being out isn’t a surprise as the former missed all of the preseason with a back injury. Brown is expected to be out for at least the first couple of regular season games and perhaps longer.
Schroder suffered a thumb injury in his preseason debut for L.A. and underwent surgery this week. The point guard will be re-evaluated in three weeks so will likely miss the first month of the season.
Bryant injury is new
The only surprise among the Lakers players that will miss the season opener is Bryant, who sprained his thumb at some point. Without Bryant, the Lakers’ center rotation will be some combination of Davis, Damian Jones and Wenyen Gabriel. The Warriors like to go small so expect to see Davis play a lot of minutes at center with the expectation being that he’ll start at the position.
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