Lakers expect to have full roster healthy to start training camp

When Lakers fans last saw LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the rest of the purple and gold on the court in the Western Conference Finals, the team was banged up. Most notably, James had been playing on a torn tendon in his right foot that was reported to potentially require surgery, while Davis had been dealing with bone spurs and a stress reaction in his own right foot.

At Las Vegas Summer League in July, Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka said that “all the reports have been good around both those injuries, in terms of the guys being able to move past them,” and a few months later, head coach Darvin Ham confirmed that is what has played out.

Ham told reporters on Thursday that he expects James, Davis and the entire rest of the roster to have a clean bill of health and be ready to participate when training camp opens up on Monday.

“That is the expectation,” Ham said.

That is certainly great news, as while the health of those two heading into camp wasn’t a major question mark, it’s still notable that they are 100% recovered to start what the team hopes will be another long campaign. Both Pelinka and Ham said at Thursday’s press conference that they hope the team’s increased depth will allow James and Davis to carry lighter loads in the regular season, but beginning the year healthy is a good head start for that process of managing their wear and tear.

Additionally, Lakers free agency addition Gabe Vincent is coming off of a grueling NBA Finals run of his own with the Miami Heat, so it’s good to hear that he is fully rested, recovered and ready to go from any bumps and bruises he may have picked up along the way.

Lakers training camp officially begins with Media Day on Monday, Oct. 2, so stay tuned to Silver Screen and Roll for plenty more updates as the 2023-24 campaign begins in earnest.

You can follow Harrison on Twitter at @hmfaigen.