The Los Angeles Lakers announce that forward Jarred Vanderbilt’s ramp up after offseason foot procedures in May has gone slower than the Lakers anticipated. There have been no setbacks, however, but he will be re-evaluated in a couple weeks, per the team.
Vanderbilt 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 although that obviously never came to fruition. His progress has been slower than expected and now a month later, the Lakers have given the update that he will miss at least a couple of more weeks in order to be cautious and keep the bigger picture in mind, per Lakers reporter Mike Trudell:
Jarred Vanderbilt’s rehabilitation will continue for the next couple of weeks before the next update. He’s been ramping up activity, but the progression has been more gradual than the team anticipated. They’ll be patient as his body builds up. There have been no setbacks, but…
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) November 21, 2024
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.
While Vanderbilt’s defensive prowess is definitely missed, the team has been in a nice groove as of late having won their last six games.
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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