In a surprise announcement, The Athletic’s Shams Charania reports that Los Angeles Lakers guard Jalen Hood-Schifino completed a lumbar microdiscectomy surgery on Thursday.
Jalen Hood-Schifino Undergoes Surgery Ahead of Playoffs
Hood-Schifino was not reported to have sustained a back injury prior to his procedure. However, Hood-Schifino missed six games in mid-December due to back spasms. The 17th overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, Hood-Schifino also suffered from back spasms while at Indiana.
Hood-Schifino has spent much of his rookie season in the G League. He’s played 15 games with the South Bay Lakers, L.A.’s G League affiliate, averaging 35.4 minutes per contest. With South Bay, the 20-year-old has averaged 22.0 points, 5.5 assists, 4.8 rebounds, and 1.4 stocks per game.
His most striking numbers may be his percentages due to his early struggles at the NBA level. Hood-Schifino has shot 47.3 percent from the field with South Bay and 43.2 percent from 3 (5.4 attempts per game).
At the NBA level, his numbers are much more modest due to the minute role he played. Over 21 games, he averages 5.2 minutes per game. However, his inability to find the bottom of the rim is a major factor in his limited playing time, as he hasn’t capitalized on the opportunities he gets to make an impression on Darvin Ham, LeBron James, and the Lakers brass.
In the three games where he’s played at least 10 minutes, Hood-Schifino has averaged 13.5 minutes per game, a decent opportunity to make an impact. Yet, in those games, Hood-Schifino shot just 30.8 percent from the field and 14.3 percent from 3. He averaged 4.3 points and 1.0 assist per contest.
Numbers aren’t everything but they are something.
Lakers Like Him
Hood-Schifino may have been behind the curve. A knee bruise he sustained against the Golden State Warriors in the preseason pushed his NBA debut out to Nov. 27. His initial stretch is where he played at least 10 minutes per game for the Lakers, albeit in blowouts. In his second career game, Hood-Schifino recorded 10 points on 3-4 shooting from the field (1-2 from 3).
Nonetheless, the Lakers appear fond of Hood-Schifino. During training camp, Ham discussed what he likes about the rookie’s game.
“He plays with a lot of moxie,” Ham says, “he plays with stability. You can’t speed him up, you can’t slow him down. He’s strong. He’s a fierce competitor in a silent way. You’re not just gonna do whatever you want to do with him.”
Lakers coach Darvin Ham called Jalen Hood-Schifino the MVP of the team’s first day of practice and detailed an interesting homework assignment he’s given the rookie point guard: pic.twitter.com/z5HySF2NwL
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) October 4, 2023
“He’s gonna guard the h*** out of the ball, guard off the ball, try to rebound, plays a powerful, powerful game at that position individually,” Ham continues. “He was phenomenal yesterday… I don’t think anyone would disagree if I called him the MVP of Day 1 scrimmaging.”
According to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, Hood-Schifino will make a full recovery in the offseason.
