Avery Bradley has missed the last 12 games with a hairline fracture in his leg, but it sounds as if the Lakers starting point guard may be back sooner rather than later.
After the Lakers finished up their road trip where they went 3-0, the Lakers returned to Los Angeles where Bradley’s injury was set to be re-evaluated. According to Tania Ganguli of the LA Times, the re-evaluation gave some good news, as Bradley may return in the middle of next week.
Avery Bradley, who had a hairline fracture in his leg, was re-evaluated today and cleared for full contact. He's still out for tomorrow's game, but if all goes well over the next few days could be probable for Wednesday's game in Orlando.
— Tania Ganguli (@taniaganguli) December 8, 2019
There’s a few interesting things that will have to be looked at when Bradley returns to the lineup. One, that may not be as interesting as I’m about to make it out to be, is whether or not Avery Bradley returns to the starting lineup. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has started in his y,place every game that he has missed, and coincidentally, Caldwell-Pope has really started to heat up since the move. After his abysmal start to the season from the field, KCP is now averaging 38.8% from three.
However, Bradley has been extremely impressive from the defensive end and has been solid as a shooter on the other end, so I doubt that Frank Vogel blocks him from returning to the starting lineup. Maybe Vogel eases him back in as he has done with Kyle Kuzma and Rajon Rondo, but once Bradley is comfortable I’d expect for him to be the full-time starting point guard.
Speaking of defense, the team has played fine as of late, but as a whole in Bradley’s absence, they’ve really struggled. As it currently stands, the team has a Defensive Rating of 98.7 when Bradley plays, with a DRTG of 106.1 in games where he sits. Anthony Davis talked about how they’ve missed Bradley on the defensive end after the Lakers’ recent win against the Trail Blazers, saying this:
“Ever since Avery (Bradley) went out, our defense has taken a hit a little bit. And the last three games, I’m not sure what it was tonight, the last three games we’ve been able to be the number one team in Defensive Rating and we want to get there every time.”
Stay tuned with us to see when Avery Bradley will officially be active, and will return to suit up for the 20-3 Lakers.
