The Los Angeles Lakers are currently without LeBron James, as he will be out at least a week (with the possibility that it’s even longer) due to an abdominal strain. It’s the worst player for the Lakers to be without at their current record of 5-5, a record that’s fallen short of expectations from injury issues that have pre-dated the start of the season. Talen Horton-Tucker represents one of those injury issues that happened before the season started, as he is still yet to make his debut after a torn ligament in his thumb forced him to get surgery. However, the team and Frank Vogel gave us some much needed good news on Monday morning, saying THT had been cleared for contact in practice starting Tuesday (h/t Harrison Faigen of Silver Screen & Roll).
Anthony Davis is PROBABLE to play tonight. His stomach is feeling better, but his thumb is still sore and he has a cold.
Talen Horton-Tucker is cleared for contact tomorrow. No timetable for a return to game action, but that's obviously big progress.
— Harrison Faigen (@hmfaigen) November 8, 2021
This is one of the most promising signs for Talen Horton-Tucker and his journey to get back on the court, as Vogel now will just have to get him up-to-date on what he has to do in the current construction of the team. This will be a little harder of an objective than it was coming into training camp given the missing rotation players that are still injured. However, it’ll be paramount for Vogel and the team to get THT ready as quick as possible as the team can use as many bodies as they can get.
In addition, THT may be able to help raise the defense’s floor as Vogel had big plans in mind for the 20-year-old guard on that end before the season started.
Talen Horton-Tucker says it's been "hard" to watch the Lakers play while he's been out with his thumb surgery.
"Just the competitor in me wants to get out there and play." pic.twitter.com/cofw7p4D4i
— Harrison Faigen (@hmfaigen) November 8, 2021
THT said on Monday that it’s been hard for him to watch the team without being able to get on the floor. It sounds like the feeling is mutual with his teammates, as he said that they’ve been telling him that they can’t wait for him to get back.
The team still has yet to see the debuts of Trevor Ariza and Kendrick Nunn, with the former still dealing with some extended recovery time while the latter may be right after THT in terms of returning to the court. LeBron James may return around the same time that these three players get comfortable on the team, with it being interesting to see what the team will look like at that time.
Until then, it’s great to hear that our young prince THT will be back on the court to do THT things.
