Lakers News: Trail Blazers-Lakers Matinee Injury Report
Though some of the usual suspects remain sidelined today ahead of L.A.'s third game of the 2022-23 regular season, the team could be getting some new perimeter help!
Jovan Buha of The Athletic reports that your Los Angeles Lakers will be without center Thomas Bryant, point guard Dennis Schröder, and rookie two-way forward Cole Swider today for their 12:30 p.m. matinee contest against Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers. Bryant and Schröder recently underwent thumb surgeries and will be on the shelf for the next 3-4 weeks. Swider, a 6'9" power forward out of Syracuse, also sat out for L.A.'s 103-97 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday due to right foot soreness.
Buha adds that Los Angeles star forwards Anthony Davis and LeBron James, who are still grappling with low back tightness and left foot soreness, respectively, have been listed as probable to play. In an interesting note, newly-signed small forward Troy Brown Jr., who missed all of training camp and the Lakers' first two games with what has been described as low back soreness, has seen his status upgrade to probable ahead of today's contest.
L.A. has looked pretty desperate for help along the wing in its first two regular season games, both losses. For much of the Clippers bout, Los Angeles head coach Darvin Ham tasked 6'3" Russell Westbrook and 6'1" Patrick Beverley with defending star forwards Kawhi Leonard (6'7") and Paul George (6'8"). Perhaps the 6'6" Brown can spend some time on Trail Blazers wings like Josh Hart and Anfernee Simons.
Los Angeles will host Portland at Crypto.com Arena. The game will be broadcast locally on Spectrum SportsNet for television and ESPN 710 AM for radio. L.A. could really use a win against another team expected to compete against it for a play-in bracket slot in the West, before its schedule toughens up in the coming weeks.
