In a season that has been plagued by injuries, the Los Angeles Lakers got some more bad news during Thursday’s game against the L.A. Clippers when Carmelo Anthony suffered a hamstring injury in the first quarter.
Anthony felt the hamstring pull and immediately limped back to the locker room, later being diagnosed with a right hamstring strain.
Hamstring injuries are usually not ideal because they can linger and cause other issues, especially for a 37-year-old in hi 19th NBA season like Anthony.
It appears he avoided the worst though as Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN is reporting that there’s optimism it isn’t a serious injury and Anthony won’t miss much time:
There’s optimism that Carmelo Anthony’s right hamstring strain isn’t serious and he’s expected to be day-to-day on a return to the Lakers lineup, sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 4, 2022
Even though Anthony is considered day-to-day, it’s possible that he still misses some games as the Lakers won’t rush him back in order to ensure he avoids further injury.
The Lakers next take the court on Saturday against the New York Knicks, Anthony’s former team. After that, they only have four more games until the All-Star break so it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Lakers sit Anthony out through then to be cautious.
Anthony has been a key piece to this Lakers team, playing in 50 of the team’s 53 games and averaging 13.4 points and 4.2 rebounds while shooting 39.2% from three.
Vogel complimentary of Anthony’s play
The night before injuring his hamstring, Anthony had a very strong performance with 24 points in the win over the Portland Trail Blazers, drawing praise from head coach Frank Vogel after.
“LeBron [James] gets a lot of credit for what he’s doing in Year 19 and I don’t think people are talking about what Carmelo is doing in Year 19,” the Lakers head coach said. “It really is remarkable. He was terrific tonight like AD said. Obviously, he was scoring the basketball but we had some coverages we were trying to work out down the stretch in the fourth and defensively he was right on top of all that stuff.
“Communicating it. Just talking some of our guys through where they need to be and the IQ and the leadership and the desire. The desire to win. The competitive spirit was just great, but the shot-making is fun to watch and he’s a big part of the win tonight.”
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