The Los Angeles Lakers picked up a big road win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night, doing so while severely shorthanded. The Lakers were without their top three players in LeBron James, Anthony Davis and D’Angelo Russell due to injury but still came out on top when they needed a victory.
Russell missed his third consecutive game due to an ankle sprain that he suffered in a recent win over the Golden State Warriors. The injury didn’t appear serious, but ankle sprains can always be tricky so you want to make sure you are 100% healthy before returning.
The hope was that Russell would be able to return to action when the Lakers return home on Friday night and host his former team the Minnesota Timberwolves. It appears that won’t be the case though, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN:
D’Angelo Russell will miss a fourth straight game Friday against Minnesota because of his right ankle sprain, Russell told ESPN. Asked if Sunday vs. GSW was a potential return date, Russell said, “We’ll see once we get through Friday.”
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) March 2, 2023
Russell’s revenge game against the Timberwolves will have to wait, which is unfortunate considering they are one of the teams ahead of the Lakers in the standings.
Even though Russell will be out, the hope still remains that the Lakers will have Davis in action. He sat out against the Thunder with it being the second game of a back-to-back and him still recovering from the stress reaction in his foot.
The Lakers played with good energy despite their injuries and earned a big win over the Thunder to close their road trip though, so if they do the same on Friday then they will be able to compete regardless of who is on the floor.
James out at least two weeks
Why getting Russell back as soon as possible is so important is because James will be missing significant time after hurting his foot. He is expected to be out at least two weeks before assessing how close he is to a return.
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