Lakers Injury Report: Pacers Star To Play Against LA After Long Absence
Everyone gets healthy against your Los Angeles Lakers (except Kevin Durant).
More evidence of that annoying reality was on display earlier today. The head coach LA's next opponents on this road trip, Indiana Pacers leader Rick Carlisle, revealed to reporters that he expects star point guard Tyrese Haliburton, to be able to suit up for Indiana tomorrow against the Lakers, per Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star.
I fully anticipate that Haliburton will be named an All-Star reserve for the first time in his young career, once those honorees are announced next week.
Through his 40 healthy games this season, the 6'5" lead playmaker is averaging 20.2 points on .480/.399/.880 shooting splits, 10.2 assists, four rebounds and 1.8 steals a night. Haliburton's All-Star impact has been made obvious by his team's record without him. Across its last ten games (during which he's been unavailable), Indiana is 1-9, and has now dropped to a lackluster 24-28 record, making the club just the 10th seed in the Eastern Conference. Overall, the Pacers are 2-10 when the 22-year-old out of Iowa State has sat this season, and 22-18 when he's been able to suit up.
Haliburton, by the way, has a familial Lakers connection: he's the cousin of one-time LA All-Star shooting guard/small forward Eddie Jones, who along All-Star point guard Nick Van Exel was the face of the mid-'90s Lakers.
LA, doing its darnedest to reach a .500 record before the All-Star break, could use all the injury luck it can get, so the availability of Haliburton is a bit of a blow to the team's chances of stealing another road win against a solid opponent. The Lakers are currently 24-28.
Tomorrow's is another early one: it's set to kick off at 4 p.m. PT on Spectrum SportsNet.
