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Los Angeles Lakers rookie point guard Lonzo Ball is dealing with the first in-season injury of his NBA career. The franchised announced that an MRI revealed Ball suffered a left shoulder sprain during the Lakers’ loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. He will be re-evaluated in one week, and is out until further notice.
This likely brings Tyler Ennis back into the rotation, who has played sparingly despite the Lakers’ lack of depth at point guard. This is also a big opportunity for Jordan Clarkson to get his strong start to the season back on track.
Ball had played in all 31 of the Lakers’ games prior to the injury, averaging 10 points, 7.1 assists and 6.9 rebounds per game. The Lakers will certainly miss the pace he keeps the offense playing at, but they’ll also miss his defensive presence and rebounding.
The bright side of Lonzo’s injury is it’s not his shooting shoulder, and the Lakers’ identified it early enough that they hopefully prevented it from being anything more serious. We’ll follow-up with any updates on Ball’s status as he recovers over the next week.