Lakers News: Starters Healthy-ish, Bench Loses Big Piece Ahead Of Bucks Battle
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Tonight, your Los Angeles Lakers will do their darnedest to defeat one of the best teams in the NBA as it gets a little more complete, the Milwaukee Bucks. All-Star swingman Khris Middleton is planning to return from an offseason wrist surgery that has cost him the club's first 20 contests.
L.A., meanwhile, will have a new absence, as Mike Trudell of Lakers.com reports. Reserve point guard Dennis Schröder has officially been ruled out as he tends to personal matters. He and his wife welcomed their third child, a baby boy, last night, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN. McMenamin adds that Schroder could join the Lakers for their matchup against old pal Kyle Kuzma and his Washington Wizards on Sunday.
Trudell adds that starting Lakers small forward Troy Brown Jr., who missed Wednesday night's Portland win with a sore left foot, has since his status improved to available for this Bucks game. Starting Los Angeles shooting guard Lonnie Walker IV, meanwhile, who also was unavailable Wednesday with his own sore left foot, is now considered probable to suit up, per Trudell.
Getting Brown and possibly Walker back would be a lucky break for Los Angeles, which will need all the wing help it can get against a loaded Milwaukee roster.
The league's latest injury report lists star Lakers LeBron James (left adductor strain) and Anthony Davis (sore left foot) as probable to play. Obviously if either of these two is out, L.A. is most likely doomed against one of the East's beasts. Two-way rookies Scotty Pippen Jr. and Cole Swider remain with the Lakers' NBA G League affiliate in El Segundo, the South Bay Lakers.
For the Bucks, little-used reserves Serge Ibaka and MarJon Beauchamp are out with "non-COVID illnesses." The Bucks' big offseason addition, former veteran Utah Jazz small forward Joe Ingles, much ballyhooed for his passing and shooting, continues to rehabilitate his surgically-repaired left ACL.
