Medical Analysis: What it means that Kendrick Nunn has ‘bone bruise’ in his knee

Lakers guard Kendrick Nunn had been dealing with an ankle sprain for the last week-plus, which was thought to be the main reason why he couldn’t play during the team’s season opener on Tuesday night (he was a game-time decision, and didn’t pass the pre-game checks).

However, it turns out he’s also been dealing with some ongoing knee soreness as well. And after further examination by Lakers’ medical staff, it turns out he also has a “bone bruise” in his knee and will be re-evaluated in 2-3 weeks.

In the following video, I explained what a bone bruise is, why the reported timeline may or may not be the full extent of the time he misses, the key indicator that will dictate his return-to-play timeline, and some good news about the injury prognosis.

Of course Lakers fans will hope that he will return sooner rather than later — especially after seeing that lineup with Rajon Rondo and Russell Westbrook in at the same time (I may have thrown up a little bit in my mouth), but once we get to that re-evaluation point, this will truly be a day to day assessment on when Nunn can come back.

Dr. Rajpal Brar, DPT has a doctorate in physical therapy from Northern Arizona University, and runs his own in-person and online sports medicine and performance business, 3CB Performance, in West LA and Valencia, CA in which he further combines his movement expertise and fitness training. He also works at a hospital — giving him experience with patients in the immediate healthcare setting and neurological patients (post stroke, post brain injury) — and has been practicing for 4 years. Brar is additionally training at UCLA’s mindful awareness research center (MARC), has a background in youth basketball coaching and analyzes the Lakers from a medical and skills perspective for Silver Screen and Roll and on his own YouTube Channel. You can follow him on Twitter at @3cbPerformance.