{"id":69820,"date":"2024-03-22T11:36:32","date_gmt":"2024-03-22T15:36:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=69820"},"modified":"2024-04-06T22:34:10","modified_gmt":"2024-04-07T02:34:10","slug":"lakers-trio-receive-hopeful-injury-updates-as-playoffs-near","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/03\/22\/lakers-trio-receive-hopeful-injury-updates-as-playoffs-near\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers Trio Receive Hopeful Injury Updates as Playoffs Near"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this week, two Los Angeles Lakers players \u2014Gabe Vincent<\/a> and Jarred Vanderbilt<\/a> \u2014were rumored to be out for the remainder<\/a> of the regular season. A third player \u2014Christian Wood<\/a> \u2014underwent knee surgery, with a recovery timeline that prevents him from returning before then.<\/p>\n

Lakers Trio Receive Hopeful Injury Updates as Playoffs Near<\/h2>\n

There are still mixed signals coming out of L.A. concerning the injury status of Vincent and Vanderbilt. However, as the Lakers gear up for the 2024 NBA Playoffs, there\u2019s hope that all three will be available<\/a> during the postseason.<\/p>\n

Per The Athletic\u2019s Jovan Buha:<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is less clarity with Jarred Vanderbilt and Gabe Vincent. Neither has been ruled out for the rest of the season, but of the two,
\nthere is more internal optimism that Vanderbilt will return before the regular season ends next month, according to team and league sources.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Gabe Vincent<\/h3>\n

Shortly after Vincent was said to be out for the rest of the Lakers\u2019 2023-24 campaign, a conflicting report<\/a> has the defensive-minded guard coming back before the end of the season.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s certainly been pressing hard to return from his knee injury. Frankly, it\u2019s unclear whether he\u2019ll return fully recovered or just healthy enough. Nonetheless, his presence has been sorely missed by L.A. all season. They\u2019ve had difficulty containing backcourt players this season and Vincent\u2019s best skill is his on-ball defense.<\/p>\n

Jarred Vanderbilt<\/h3>\n

There\u2019s a similar case to be made about Vanderbilt. There\u2019s been no firm return date set for Vanderbilt. However, there have been consistent reports about him<\/a> aiming to return before the end of the regular season. When he returns, Vanderbilt is another player who would raise the Lakers\u2019 defensive ceiling. A fine on-ball defender, he\u2019s capable of guarding every position.<\/p>\n

Christian Wood<\/h3>\n

As previously mentioned, Wood is expected to miss the remainder of the regular season after completing surgery. However, \u201cthere’s a chance he’ll return for Play-In game(s) or the playoffs if the Lakers get there,\u201d according to Buha.<\/p>\n

Though a skilled scorer, Wood averaged 6.9 points per game this season as he played a minor rotation role. His biggest impact may have been on the boards, as he pulled down 16.2 percent of available rebounds when on the floor. That mark ranks second on the team behind only Anthony Davis<\/a> (19.4 percent).<\/p>\n

If he can return during the postseason, his abilities become even more valuable. In the playoffs, every possession becomes that much more important. His ability to score, averaging 18.1 points per game across the three previous seasons<\/a>, can change a game. So will his ability to end a defensive possession by controlling the board.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earlier this week, two Los Angeles Lakers players \u2014Gabe Vincent and Jarred Vanderbilt \u2014were rumored to be out for the remainder of the regular season. A third player \u2014Christian Wood \u2014underwent knee surgery, with a recovery timeline that prevents him from returning before then. Lakers Trio Receive Hopeful Injury Updates as Playoffs Near There are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":69837,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26,1608,62,3],"tags":[3145,4921,2941,4745,596],"class_list":["post-69820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lakers","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","tag-christian-wood","tag-gabe-vincent","tag-jarred-vanderbilt","tag-nba-injuries","tag-nba-playoffs"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69820\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}