On Thursday evening, the Los Angeles Lakers will hit the road to take on the Portland Trail Blazers in their second game since the All-Star break. Los Angeles got off to a tough start to the season's unofficial second half with a home loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday, their second straight defeat at the hands of an NBA cellar dweller.
The Lakers' game against the Blazers is slated to occur on the second night of a back-to-back, causing some to wonder whether the team may have a crowded injury report for the contest. Unfortunately, the answer to that question was yes, as Jovan Buha of The Athletic reported that both Luka Doncic (left calf injury management) and Jarred Vanderbilt (right foot surgery management) will miss the game vs the Blazers. They join Maxi Kleber on the injury report, who has not played yet since his trade from the Dallas Mavericks while dealing with right foot surgery recovery.
Meanwhile, LeBron James is questionable for the Blazers clash due to left foot injury management.
A rough beginning for Luka Doncic
Luka Doncic hasn't exactly been lighting it up so far in the three games he's played since the shocking trade that sent him from the Mavericks to the Lakers. Of course, he is still recovering from an injury that had previously kept him out since Christmas Day, as well as adjusting to a new system that previously (and still in many ways does) revolved around LeBron James.
Still, JJ Redick and company were probably hoping that a stretch of games against the Utah Jazz and then the Hornets would allow Doncic to get acclimated while still giving the team a chance to begin a mini-win streak.
Instead, the Lakers went 1-2 in that stretch, and their schedule is going to get a lot tougher over the next few weeks, beginning with a road date against the Denver Nuggets on Saturday evening.
In any case, the Lakers and Blazers are slated to tip things off at 10:00 PM ET from Portland.
