Lakers coach Frank Vogel said on Saturday that Marc Gasol and Kostas Antetokounmpo would lose at least the team’s next two games according to the league’s health and safety protocols.
“They are not with us, and the only thing I can say about the schedule is that they will not be with us for these two games, moreover, they are only in the health and safety protocols, that is more or less I can say”, said Vogel. “On this side, they will not be with us.”
Gasol has already lost the last three games (and two training sessions this week) in health and safety protocols, while Antetokounmpo was only added before the team’s training on Thursday. This means that Gasol would have lost at least five games in total, and would have lost even more – he would have been out for two full weeks at the end of the current schedule – if the All-Star break had not occurred in the middle of this stretch.
To put it in context, Alex Caruso and Dennis Schröder lost four games each for contact tracking. Gasol’s absence at the end of the next two games – Monday against the Warriors and Tuesday against the Timberwolves – will have been much longer, both in terms of games and in terms of the time he lost. Schröder painted a less than rosy picture when I compared the two situations while asking if someone on the team had contacted him or if he or anyone else had sought out Gasol to make him feel that he was still part of things while they were away. .
“I mean, I think the situation with Marc is even worse than mine,” said Schröder.
In addition, Vogel said that Caruso – who lost the entire second half of the Lakers’ victory on Friday night against the Indiana Pacers after hitting his head on the ground while diving to save a lost ball in the first, suffering what the team initially called head injury – was still being evaluated. Caruso was not placed in the concussion protocol, but the team is still monitoring to see if he suffered.
Update: The Lakers say that Caruso suffered a concussion. Here is the team’s statement.
Lakers guard Alex Caruso, who left last night’s game against Indiana in the second quarter with a head injury, was diagnosed with a mild concussion. It has been placed on the NBA’s concussion protocol and updates will be provided where appropriate.
The Lakers are also without Anthony Davis, who continues to recover from Achilles tendinosis and a calf strain. The team said late on Friday that doctors had released him for the next phase of his rehabilitation and that he would reevaluate him in two weeks, and Vogel gave the latest updates on his progress on Saturday.
“Until now it was more just strengthening and weights. In fact, I still haven’t talked to the medical team about whether he’s doing anything on the court, ”said Vogel. “There are all these limitations exactly when he came early to get up, he can only do treatment and weights. You cannot do things on the court until all the results of the PCR are ready. So, he will – in the coming weeks – hopefully start to develop more activity. “
The Lakers will play on Monday against the Golden State Warriors. With Gasol out, wait for Damian Jones to start again at the center, with Montrezl Harrell continuing to play a bigger role outside the bank. If Caruso loses more time, Dennis Schröder will likely play an even bigger role as a defender at the point of attack than he already does, with Talen Horton-Tucker also about to undergo a minute turnaround.
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