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Your Los Angeles Lakers will be down another critical soldier this evening against the Oklahoma City Thunder, after all.

It's been revealed that starting LA point guard D'Angelo Russell will have to sit out tonight's Crypto.com Arena action (which tips off at 7:30 p.m. PT on Spectrum SportsNet) with a sore right hip, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN. News of that ailment first trickled down, in something of a surprise, earlier today.

"It's not too serious, but serious enough where we need to manage him," LA head coach Darvin Ham said of the injury (per McMenamin), pretty nonsensically. 

Ham indicated that Russell was expected to be day-to-day in the immediate future.

All-Star Lakers small forward LeBron James (right foot tendon injury), 3-and-D reserve center Mo Bamba (left ankle sprain), and two-way rookie signings Scotty Pippen Jr. and Cole Swider are all out. 

For the Thunder, beyond the surgically-repaired Chet Holmgren and Kenrich Williams, All-Star point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who played really well last night against the Los Angeles Clippers, is set to play through his previously-reported abdominal strain.

It will be fascinating to see how LA deals with the absence of D-Lo on the hardwood. Dennis Schröder, who will replace Russell in the starting lineup, is a solid defender, so perhaps he can pester his former Thunder buddy.

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