D’Angelo Russell missed his fifth straight game with an ankle injury on Sunday, and while Lakers coach Darvin Ham says he is trending in the right direction, one Lakers insider isn’t so sure.
“I could tell you this much, we saw him warm up pregame,” ESPN LA’s Allen Sliwa said when asked about the timetable of Russell’s return. “ He did not look like somebody that was ready to come back on Sunday.
“Now, I could be wrong. But he just wasn’t doing real drills. He wasn’t kind of sprinting and cutting and everything else. That actually concerned me a little bit. I thought, at least in my opinion, I thought that hopefully he’d be a little bit further in his progress.”
The Lakers need as many reinforcements as possible to ensure a playoff spot as they sit in 11th place in the West with a 30-35 record.
LA is already dealing with the absence of LeBron James and Russell also missing time was the last thing they needed.
Russell has averaged 13.5 points, five assists and 3.5 rebounds while shooting 44.2 percent from the field and 35.3 percent from three in four games for the Lakers this season and looks to have grown up a lot since his last stint in the purple and gold.