The Los Angeles Lakers have been exciting to watch. Still, an important component of their team is missing. Forward Kyle Kuzma has missed all of the preseason since suffering a foot injury with Team USA. Kuzma did partake in the trip to China and has continued his rehab with the team, but all of this indicates he will not be ready for the start of the regular season.
Frank Vogel spoke with reporters on Thursday and provided an update for the Utah alumnus.
"We felt the value of sharing the basketball last night but on the tape, there's a long way to go, there's room for improvement." pic.twitter.com/fqbCcoTNYA
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) October 17, 2019
Vogel stated that it would be “probably unlikely” that Kuzma was to participate in Sunday’s full-contact practice. That being said, with Kuzma missing the practice on Sunday, the chance of him playing in the season opener against the Los Angeles Clippers seems diminished.
Kuzma has been partaking in drills with Lakers’ assistant Phil Handy which can be seen pre-game. He will be limited to these drills until he is cleared to partake in the on-court practice.
Just pure speculation, it will probably still be at least a couple of weeks until Kuzma will be back on the court. There would be no need to rush him as it can reaggravate the injury. There were videos of Kuzma shooting off of one foot which shows how conservatively the Lakers are treating the injury. The natural course would be for Kuzma to partake in practice and then full-contact practice before playing in a game.
Jared Dudley will most likely be filling in the role as back-up forward while Kuzma is out. The bench unit will be missing his offense, but here’s hoping they can shoulder the load while Kuzma recovers.
