Thomas Bryant, Dennis Schröder set for return to action against Pistons

After practice on Thursday, Darvin Ham confirmed what many had assumed to be the case when he said that both Dennis Schröder and Thomas Bryant would see minutes in Friday’s game against the Pistons. The pair will almost certainly make their return and perhaps alongside LeBron James, who is questionable for the contest.

Officially, neither Schröder nor Bryant were listed on the Lakers injury report for Friday’s game. Both will be available for the game and, as noted by Ham, will see time on the court.

While the week-long break between games may have been a long time without basketball for fans, it has been a benefit to the Lakers as they look to get players back from injury. Most notably, both Bryant and Schröder were able to get multiple days on the court in practice with both the Lakers and the team’s G League affiliate.

As a result, the two have been able to more slowly progress along and work their way back into game shape, a luxury they likely would not have had if the Lakers did not have the odd scheduling quirk over the last week.

Once LeBron returns, which seems likely to be at some point this upcoming weekend, the Lakers will be the healthiest they have all year. Max Christie is the only other Laker — along with two-way signee Cole Swider — that is dealing with an injury as he is currently in health and safety protocols.

The good news is this means fans and the Lakers themselves can now begin judging this team and assessing whether they’re actually good or not, truly a question that has been unanswerable until this point.

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