Lakers don’t think Dennis Schröder can make foot infection worse by playing on it

It’s clear that Dennis Schröder is not 100% right now. Not only is the Lakers starting point guard dealing with a hip contusion and undisclosed knee injury, but in medical updates we couldn’t even make up if we tried during a season cursed with them, Schröder also almost missed the team’s game on Thursday against the Boston Celtics with an infection in the ball of his foot.

Yes, really.

Schröder ended up playing against the Celtics, but was clearly limited, and head coach Frank Vogel says the team didn’t even know if he’d be able to play until it was nearly tip-off.

“The foot was a problem. He really almost did not play, but really wanted to be in there. (He) was in a lot of pain, it took a while for it to loosen up,” Vogel said. “But he definitely wanted to be in there, and credit to him for gutting it out and playing through pain.”

Sometimes doing so isn’t a good idea, though. NBA history is filled with stories of players who bravely tried to play through injury only to make the malady worse, but Vogel says the team is more than aware of that, and checked with the medical staff before allowing Schröder to suit up.

“We said if it’s going to cost us the next two or three games then we’d just hold him out this game,” Vogel said. “The medical team did not feel like it was something that was going to cost us games going forward, just something that’s going to be uncomfortable to play with.”

Schröder deserves a ton of credit for his spirit and toughness here. You can critique his game all you want, but until LeBron James and/or Anthony Davis are back, the Lakers are lacking in players who can create plays for both themselves and others. Even in a limited capacity, Schröder still provides that. Now the team just has to hope that the medical staff is right, and that Schröder doesn’t lead to any other issues by trying to overcompensate for his latest malady. We’ll see if he opts to give it a go again or finally get some rest in their next game against the Utah Jazz on Saturday.

And also, between Schröder’s foot infection, a dislocated and fractured pinkie for Marc Gasol and a missing toenail for Andre Drummond, the Lakers have suffered more than their fair share of truly bizarre injuries this season. Can the basketball gods let up now? Please?

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