The Los Angeles Lakers caught a tough break Tuesday night, as not only were they defeated by the Charlotte Hornets in a game that they led by as much as 19, they also lost Larry Nance Jr. to an apparent knee injury.
In the third quarter Nance was chasing after a loose ball, and after diving for it he immediately knew that he had hurt something in his knee.
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When he got up he was unable to put weight on his left leg and was helped to the Lakers locker room and missed the remainder of the game.
He got an MRI on that leg Wednesday morning in Miami, and the MRI reveal that he has a bone bruise, but will need further testing once the swelling in his knee dies down according to the Lakers Official Twitter:
Injury Update: MRI showed a bone bruise in @Larrydn22's L knee. Out indefinitely, but further results were inconclusive due to swelling.
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) December 21, 2016
The injury is a tough break for the second-year player, who serves a pivotal role off the bench for the Lakers. Unfortunately for Nance and the rest of the team, the full extent of the injury is still unknown due to the swelling.
In 27 games on the season before Tuesday Nance was averaging 6.9 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 22.5 minutes per game. After Tuesday’s game Lakers head coach Luke Walton said that losing Nance is a huge loss for the team as he is one of the team’s most intelligent players.
Nance is no stranger to knee injuries with the Wyoming product tearing the ACL in his right knee during his junior year with the Cowboys.
The timetable for his return is…Thomas Robinson could see a spike in minutes with both Nance and Tarik Black currently out with injuries.
