Lakers Injury Report: LA Will Be Missing 4 Reserves In Pacers Game Friday
The 42-31 Los Angeles seem likely to match their win total from the 2022-23 season pretty soon on this six-game road trip. Last year, the club finished as the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference, with a 43-39 record. Now, in a far deeper West, LA is the ninth seed, two games behind the current seventh seed, the 43-30 Phoenix Suns.
Los Angeles will get its first chance to match last year's sum tonight, right now, as the team faces off against a similarly low postseason seed, the 41-33 Indiana Pacers, who occupy the East's sixth seed.
But LA will be without a few critical pieces as it looks to win its 43rd game of the season, per the league's latest injury report.
The Lakers are missing four reserves, albeit only three rotation pieces. Power forward Jarred Vanderbilt remains on the shelf with a right mid-foot sprain, point guard Gabe Vincent is shelved as he recovers from a left knee surgery, though it appears he'll be on the bench with the team and is hoping to play in his first game since December this coming Sunday, against the Brooklyn Nets, per Jovan Buha and Shams Charania of The Athletic.
Center Christian Wood is still on the mend from his left knee surgery. Rookie guard Jalen Hood-Schifino had a back surgery recently and is also on the shelf, although he couldn't quite make Darvin Ham's rotations when everyone was healthy.
Indiana, meanwhile, will be without two-way players Quenton Jackson, Oscar Tshiebwe, and Isaiah Wong. Second-year former lottery pick guard Bennedict Mathurin is out with a right shoulder labral tear. Kendall Brown is on assignment with the Pacers' G League affiliate, the Indiana Mad Ants.
