Lakers Injury Report: Darvin Ham Provides Murky Update On Ailing Role Player
Ahead of your Los Angeles Lakers' surprisingly robust 127-110 blowout of the Dallas Mavericks last night, second-year Los Angeles head coach Darvin Ham offered a semblance of a health update on the status of small forward Cam Reddish, a flawed, defense-only player whom Ham values more than possibly anyone else on the team or within the team's fanbase.
Per Michael Corvo of ClutchPoints, Ham has indicated that Reddish is considered "day-to-day" as he continues to deal with a lingering knee injury, which has kept him sidelined for the last two games.
During his first season with the Lakers, the 6'8" former lottery pick out of Duke has already seen his obligations with the club shift in a variety of ways. He's even been in and out of the team's starting lineup, albeit in some fairly ill-conceived Ham configurations that have flopped mightily due to a dearth of shooting.
Ham clearly values his defensive aptitude on the perimeter, and while his length and athleticism certainly give him a leg up in that department, he's not some all-world stopper. His offensive shortcomings at times make him a bit of a liability on that end of the floor, too.
Inked to a one-year, veteran's minimum deal this season, Reddish is averaging a career-low 6.5 points on a .391/.337/.833 slash line.
That 33.7% three-point shooting mark on 2.7 attempts is borderline respectable, although he typically only takes triples in catch-and-shoot scenarios, and doesn't convert them on a high-enough clip to actually warrant any major defensive attention from opposing teams.
All this is to say -- maybe Reddish's absence isn't that big a deal? The Lakers' current nine-man rotation has been thriving, winning two straight games against formidable Western Conference foes. Jarred Vanderbilt, essentially a springier Reddish with better defensive instincts, seems to finally be healthy after a rocky, injury-ridden season start, and bigger roles have emerged for forwards Rui Hachimura and Christian Wood in the absence of Reddish.
