D’Angelo Russell listed as questionable vs. Grizzlies, Mo Bamba out

The Lakers may finally be welcoming back D’Angelo Russell after a longer-than-expected absence to injury. Russell has been out since Feb. 23 but is listed as questionable for the Lakers game on Tuesday against the Grizzlies.

Mo Bamba, who exited Sunday’s game with his own ankle sprain, is listed as out for the game.

This is the first time Russell has been listed as anything other than doubtful on the injury report since the Mavericks game on Feb. 26. After what seemed like initial optimism from the Lakers that D’Lo’s injury would be short-term, Russell has been listed as out over the last week.

The team’s newfound depth — and Anthony Davis’ brilliance — has allowed them to go 3-2 with neither D’Lo nor LeBron James in the lineup. But with the team continuing to move up in the playoff race, Russell’s return is imperative to sustain that push. His return is even more crucial with LeBron seemingly far away from his own return.

As for Bamba, as noted above, he exited Sunday’s game against the Warriors with his own sprained ankle injury. There is a bit more depth available to the Lakers to absorb his injury, mainly through the way of Wenyen Gabriel. On Sunday, Gabriel played eight minutes against Golden State.

The Grizzlies will be severely undermanned with Ja Morant, Steven Adams and Brandon Clarke all out. The Lakers are 1-1 against the Grizzlies this year, more recently falling to them without Russell last week, but a game that also featured both Morant and Clarke for Memphis.

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