The Los Angeles Lakers held their annual Media Day earlier this week and one of the things that came out of it was Maxi Kleber saying he felt healthy and ready to go for the season.
Kleber missed a majority of last season due to a foot injury. He returned for the Lakers’ final game of the season in the playoffs against the Minnesota Timberwolves, although that was only five minutes of action.
Unfortunately, Kleber good health was short-lived. Lakers head coach JJ Redick provided some injury updates after the Lakers’ second practice on Wednesday and the most notable thing that came out of it is Kleber injuring his quad on Tuesday and sitting out as a result.
“LeBron again for the second straight day did some individual on-court work. Gabe was a full participant today,” Redick said. “No update on any of the other guys, the only new thing is Maxi kind of tweaked his quad yesterday during conditioning. As a precautionary, he sat out today. He’ll get an MRI later this afternoon and hopefully it’s nothing serious.”
As Redick said, the hope is that it’s not a serious injury for Kleber, although that will be determined once he gets the MRI. The Lakers’ first preseason game is on Friday, but even if Kleber’s injury is minor they will likely proceed with caution to ensure it doesn’t become a bigger issue.
In the meantime, that leaves more reps at the center position for Deandre Ayton, Jaxson Hayes and Christian Koloko in scrimmages, practices and preseason games. Kleber is the only Lakers big man that can stretch the floor though, so here definitely seems to be a role for him on this team once he gets healthy.
LeBron James discusses plans for Lakers training camp
While LeBron James continues to play at a high level when on the court, he also has a ton of miles on his body after 22 seasons and he has been dealing with some nagging injuries over the past couple years, including an MCL sprain in the Lakers’ final game last season.
Managing things throughout the season will be crucial to James’ performance this season and he spoke about how much he expects to participate during training camp.
“It remains to be seen,” James told ESPN when asked about his planned participation in training camp and the preseason. “Obviously, I want to be out there as much as I can … but we know where I’m at, and the coaching staff knows where I’m at as far as me getting to a place where we’re all good as far as getting on the court.
“It’s Year 23 from me. I got a lot of miles on my game. I’ve trained throughout the course of the offseason, but just my presence is going to be important as well. Making sure that even if I’m not on the floor, I’m always in tune to what we’re doing so I know what’s going on at all times. So, just looking forward to that.”
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