The Los Angeles Lakers released their injury report for Wednesday’s road game against the Utah Jazz, the final game before the All-Star break, and it’s a lengthy one.
LeBron James (left ankle soreness) and Austin Reaves (left elbow contusion) are listed as probable. Luka Doncic (left calf strain) and Bronny James (left forearm muscle strain) are questionable, while Dorian Finney Smith (left ankle soreness), Maxi Kleber (right foot surgery recovery), Cam Reddish (personal) and Gabe Vincent (left knee soreness) are out.
Dalton Knecht and the newly-acquired Alex Len are not on the injury report, signaling they should be available to play in what looks to be a severely shorthanded game to close out the first half.
The Lakers come in winners of six straight and 10 of their last 11, so the hope is that they will take care of business against an inferior Jazz team to maintain momentum going into the All-Star break.
Being without two of their better defenders in Finney-Smith and Vincent will be tough, but if Doncic is able to play then the Lakers should still have enough firepower to get a win. Doncic’s status will be worth monitoring, however, considering he just played his first game in nearly two months.
Two-way guard Jordan Goodwin has looked good the last couple of games, so he will likely get rotation minutes off the bench once again.
JJ Redick believes Luka Doncic handled Lakers debut well
Luka Doncic made his highly-anticipated Lakers debut against this same Jazz team in L.A. on Monday night in what was a blowout victory. Doncic admittedly to feeling a little nervous to suit up in purple and gold for the first time, but head coach JJ Redick felt the 25-year-old handled everything very well.
“I think he handled it well,” Redick said after the game. “Knowing Luka, whether he will admit it or not, there was probably a little bit of nerves playing for the Lakers for the first time and the anticipation that our fans had, this building had, his teammates had, our coaching staff had. He kind of gets that, he sees that.
“I thought he’s handled it really well and he played really well tonight. He could not make a 3 outside of the first one, but it just goes back to all our guys, he just played agenda-free basketball. He didn’t make it about Luka. He made it about playing good basketball and playing Laker basketball.”
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