The Los Angeles Lakers might be the hottest team in there NBA at the moment after picking up their fifth win in a row on Friday night. Despite a tough test in the battle of L.A., the Lakers prevailed 106-102 behind great performances from LeBron James and Luka Doncic.
One Laker who was missing in this game was starting forward Rui Hachimura. Hachimura did not play on Friday night due to a knee injury after getting banged up earlier in the week, and JJ Redick confirmed after the win that the injury is not serious according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.
“JJ Redick says Rui Hachimura’s injury has been diagnosed as left patellar tendinopathy,” McMenamin reported on X.
Redick also said that Hachimura will be evaluated in one week, per McMenamin.
Left patellar tendinopathy is a stress injury that should be able to heal relatively quickly if Hachimura is able to rest and treat it, so there isn’t anything to worry about for Lakers fans on the surface here. Dorian Finney-Smith started in Hachimura’s place, while Trey Jemison III and Jarred Vanderbilt played heavier minutes on the wing with the Gonzaga product out of the lineup.
Vanderbilt and Jemison had some nice moments on defense and on the glass in this game, but they don’t provide the same level of floor spacing as Hachimura does. As a result, the Lakers will want to do everything they can to let him rest and get healthy as soon as possible.
If Hachimura only misses the week that Redick specified, he will miss home games against the Clippers, Pelicans and Knicks before the Lakers take on the Celtics on March 8.
The injury news that should concern the Lakers is surrounding starting point guard Austin Reaves, who left this game after just nine minutes due to calf soreness. That doesn’t seem like a serious injury either, but the Lakers need Reaves on the floor in order to keep winning like they have been recently.
Keeping up this current hot streak will be difficult without Hachimura, but the Lakers can find all the motivation they need by looking at the standings. They are just one game back of the Denver Nuggets for the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference, so they can taste home-court advantage in the first two rounds of the playoffs. With the way that Redick and company have been playing lately, that goal seems very attainable over the final six weeks of the season.
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