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EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — LeBron James and Jared Dudley did not participate in the morning session of the third day of Los Angeles Lakers training camp, but head coach Frank Vogel said both are healthy and that the team is merely being cautious with their older players.
“Just common sense,” Vogel said when asked for his reasoning on holding his two 34-year-old veterans out of the morning’s practice. “I meet with the medical team every day, and we’ve got some experienced vets on the team and we’re not gonna overdo it with those guys in September.”
Vogel quipped that every player over 30 years old on the team will get selective rest days for maintenance like James and Dudley did. It is unclear whether or not James or Dudley will participate in the Lakers’ evening practice session, or which days they or the other six players over the age of 30 will sit out.
“It’s going to be day-to-day, it’s not any long, laid-out plan. It’s just continuing to meet with the medical team,” Vogel said. “Sometimes I’ll go to the medical team and go ‘you know what? It’s day three, we’ve had three practices in the last two days, it’s going to be a lot for these guys. They’ll have sore muscles, let’s be smart.’”
Other notes from the Lakers’ third day of training camp
LeBron James, Frank Vogel react to SB 206
On Monday morning, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 206 — which would allow college athletes to profit off their own likeness — during an episode of James’ HBO series, “The Shop.”
James and Vogel spoke at length about their support of the bill, which you can read about here.
Kuzma staying active
Kyle Kuzma continues to be out indefinitely with the stress reaction in his left foot that has sidelined him since August. Kuzma is still slated to be reevaluated with an MRI upon the team’s return from China in a few weeks, but for now he is continuing to stay as active as he’s allowed to be.
Earlier in camp Kuzma was flat-footed shooting off to the side on a basket away from the team’s scrimmages, and on Monday he was shooting one-legged threes with rookie guard Talen Horton-Tucker, keeping the weight off of his injured foot.
Kyle Kuzma is shooting one-legged threes after practice (presumably to keep weight off his injured foot) and THT is joining him. pic.twitter.com/FGXcJWgK0I
— Harrison Faigen (@hmfaigen) September 30, 2019
Vogel impressed with camp so far
The Lakers’ new head coach has made no secret of how in awe he’s been of his team so far, and on Monday he followed that up with his latest bit of praise for the roster:
Frank Vogel was asked about what type of learning curve this team was having entering training camp, and he said it's "better than any team I've been a part of."
— Harrison Faigen (@hmfaigen) September 30, 2019
"There is really very little that I'm going to introduce that they haven't seen already."
September optimism runs rampant throughout the NBA, but it can’t be a bad thing that everyone around the Lakers seem to mostly like what they’re seeing so far.
All quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. For more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts. You can follow Harrison on Twitter at @hmfaigen.