Lakers Injury Report: LA Provides Discouraging Update On Jarred Vanderbilt's Foot

Uh oh.

Your Los Angeles Lakers are doing their best to downplay the severity of this, but we at All Lakers are fairly distressed by some recent injury news.

Jovan Buha of The Athletic reports that power forward Jarred Vanderbilt -- who started in his only available preseason game with LA after inking a four-year, $48 million contract extension over the summer -- is recovering from the left heel bursitis that has already sidelined him for several weeks.

That's the good news.

What we didn't know was how long he was anticipated to be out. The 6'9" big man is set to be reassessed by team doctors in two weeks. That does not mean he'll be back in two weeks, it means we'll have a better sense of his recovery timeline at that point.

In his lone appearance with the new-look Lakers this season, LA's 125-108 preseason opening loss to the Golden State Warriors, Vanderbilt managed to play just 13.5 healthy minutes and score six points on 2-of-4 shooting from the floor, which included an encouraging 2-of-3 shooting from deep on catch-and-shoot triple tries. The Kentucky product also chipped in five rebounds and a steal.

Los Angeles should be able to comfortably weather the storm of Vanderbilt's absence, given its revamped frontcourt depth, though they will miss his defensive versatility, given that he can guard everyone from power forwards to opposing perimeter stars. Any contributions he makes on offense are something of a bonus, so it's really about what he can do on the other side of the court that makes him so valuable for the Lakers long-term.

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