Lakers News: Kendrick Nunn Has Yet to Clear Major Injury Hurdle Says Insider
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The Lakers took a calculated risk when they signed guard Kendrick Nunn to a two-year contract last summer. Nunn was recovering from a knee injury and it was unknown when he would be able to make his Lakers debut. As it turns out, it never happened. The guard wound up missing the entire season due to the the bone bruise injury in his knee.
Unsurprisingly, the 27-year-old opted into his $5.25M player option this past June. Nunn says he feels "100 percent", but The Athletic's Jovan Buha noted that he still has a major hurdle to clear before training camp and this coming NBA season.
"Nunn recently spoke with Spectrum SportsNet about his health and said he feels 100 percent. He has been training with the younger Lakers – Reaves, Johnson, Wenyen Gabriel, Talen Horton-Tucker, and Mason Jones – during their Monday through Thursday offseason workouts. He hasn’t resumed five-on-five play yet, which is the next big hurdle. It seems like he should be ready to go by the start of training camp, but recovery isn’t always linear."
The fact that he still hasn't been cleared is concerning, especially considering all of the setbacks he had each time he tried to ramp up his basketball activity during the 2020-2021 season.
Buha commented on how Nunn's role could change drastically if the Lakers end up trading Westbrook before the deadline.
"In the scenario that Westbrook is traded and the Lakers don’t get a lead ballhandler back, Nunn’s role could significantly increase, as would Reaves’ and Horton-Tucker’s – though there’s also a chance Nunn or Horton-Tucker is included in a Westbrook deal given their tradable salaries."
The most important factor for Nunn next season is simply being available, the rest, will sort itself out and to be fair, he still has plenty of time to be fully cleared before training camp in October.
