Lakers Injury Report: Update On Jarred Vanderbilt's Bursitis Recovery

LA's recently-extended power forward has missed the entire regular season so far.

Los Angeles Lakers power forward Jarred Vanderbilt continues to recuperate from the left heel bursitis that he incurred during LA's first preseason contest last month. Now, at least, we've finally gotten some good news, if not exactly a projected return deadline, in terms of his progress.

As we relayed yesterday, we knew we were going to get a big news update regarding Vanderbilt's recovery timeline at some point today.

Well, that point is now!

Jovan Buha of The Athletic reports that, upon undergoing a reassessment on the heel from Los Angeles' medical staff, Vanderbilt "has been cleared to begin a return to play progression."

Now let's parse what that means for a second.

Jarred Vanderbilt hasn't been clear to return to play. He's been cleared to start preparing to return to play. That's about as vague as you can get. We have no sense of how long this will take, and the fact that he hadn't heretofore been allowed to kick off this "return to play progression," whatever it precisely entails, is somewhat disconcerting. Does this mean he'll be gone for a few more weeks? Another month? 

Los Angeles has already weathered some injuries to stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis, plus reserve center Jaxson Hayes. The team has not been the oversized defensive juggernaut we had expected heading into the season, in part due to Vanderbilt's absence.

The 6'9" power forward proved to be a critical component of LA's late-season turnaround in 2022-23, upon arriving to town from the Utah Jazz during a trade deadline deal. He started 24 of his 26 regular season games with the team last year, averaging 7.2 points on 52.9% field goal shooting and 78.4% free throw shooting, along with 6.7 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.2 steals a night, across 24 minutes per. 

The 24-year-old Kentucky product, a voracious and enthusiastic defender capable of legitimately guarding point guards through power forwards, pretty much split Lakers power forward duties with Rui Hachimura off the bench during the balance of the regular season's home stretch. Things titled in Hachimura's favor during a surprise run to the Western Conference Finals, as Vanderbilt's offensive shortcomings and inability to cover fives limited his efficacy on the floor alongside stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis, neither of whom were having much success nailing their own jumpers at the time. 

Hachimura, meanwhile, put on something of a shooting clinic, and his bulk advantage gave him an edge over Vanderbilt in guarding centers in space. Hachimura eventually supplanted Vanderbilt as a starter in Game 4 of the team's Western Conference Finals series, after trouncing his minutes tally throughout the playoffs.

Nevertheless, it appears LA team president Rob Pelinka was interested in retaining both Vanderbilt and Hachimura. Over the summer, he signed Hachimura to a three-year, $51 million contract as a restricted free agent, while inking Vanderbilt to a four-year, $48 million contract extension.

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