The Los Angeles Lakers are starting to deal with injuries to some of their best players 15 games into the 2015-16 NBA season. Earlier today, it was announced D’Angelo Russell would miss two to three weeks due to a knee injury and now Julius Randle is also dealing with an injury issue he can’t play through.
According to Mark Medina of the L.A. Daily News, Randle has been ruled out for Wednesday’s showdown against the Golden State Warriors:
Julius Randle is also ruled out tonight (hip pointer)
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) November 24, 2016
Randle was dealing with the hip issue before and during Tuesday’s win over the Oklahoma City Thunder. The third-year forward played through the injury last night, but didn’t fair well finishing with three points, five rebounds, four assists, and six turnovers.
With Randle clearly not himself on Tuesday, the forward was already listed as doubtful for the showdown with the Warriors which is the second game of a back-to-back.
Now that Randle has been ruled out against the Warriors, head coach Luke Walton and the Lakers coaching staff will have a few options to fill the void. Larry Nance Jr., Thomas Robinson, Luol Deng, and Tarik Black are all potential options to start at power forward.
Following Wednesday’s game, the Lakers will have one day off for Thanksgiving on Thursday and will have to get right back to work on Friday as they host the Warriors at the Staples Center.