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The injuries won’t stop coming for the Los Angeles Lakers. After rolling his ankle against the LA Clippers on Monday, Kyle Kuzma will not play against the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday, and will get a precautionary MRI on his right sprained ankle, according to Mike Trudell of Lakers.com.
Update: Kuzma could miss around a week:
The precautionary MRI on Kyle Kuzma’s injury confirmed a minor ankle sprain. Kuzma could miss up to one week.
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) March 6, 2019
Through 60 games for the Lakers this season, Kuzma is the team’s second-leading scorer and is averaging career-highs in points per game (18.8), field goal percentage (46.5 percent), free-throw percentage (76.1 percent) and assists per game (2.5).
In the month of February, Kuzma averaged 20.7 points per game on 50 percent shooting from the field. He was one of three Lakers to average at least 20 points per game in February along with LeBron James and Brandon Ingram.
Ingram, who sat out of Monday’s game against the Clippers, has been listed as questionable for Wednesday’s game against the Nuggets due to soreness in his right shoulder. Lance Stephenson (toe sprain) and Tyson Chandler (neck stiffness) have also been listed as questionable. Stephenson has missed the last three games for the Lakers.
Due to the number of banged up bodies on the roster, only eight players did on-court work for the Lakers during practice on Tuesday:
Luke Walton said the Lakers had a film session, then only 8 active bodies for on court work. Kyle Kuzma (ankle) got treatment all day, while Brandon Ingram (shoulder) also didn’t practice. As mentioned a moment ago, Kuzma is out, and Ingram questionable vs. Denver.
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) March 5, 2019
Earlier this season, we saw how the Lakers looked without James, their leading scorer, and it wasn’t pretty. However, we’ve yet to see what James looks like without his second and third options on offense.
If the Lakers are getting blown out by bad teams like the Phoenix Suns and Memphis Grizzlies with Ingram and Kuzma each averaging nearly 20 points per game, how are they going to look with them sidelined?
There’s a decent chance we’ll find out on Wednesday when Los Angeles takes on Denver, who are the No. 2 team in the Western Conference. As Samuel L. Jackson once said, hold onto your butts.
For more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts, or listen to our latest episode in which we dole out blame for this season below. You can follow Christian on Twitter at @RadRivas.