Lakers: An Update On Avery Bradley

A new development on the status of the Lakers guard.

Veteran Los Angeles Lakers combo guard Avery Bradley cleared the NBA's COVID-19 protocols earlier today, along with Malik Monk.

Unfortunately, that doesn't quite mean he's ready to suit up tonight for the injury-strapped Lakers' home game against the visiting Brooklyn Nets, LA's first in the newly-anointed Crypto.com Arena.

Kyle Goon of the Orange County Register announced the news:

Lakers keep their starting lineup from last game. Avery Bradley is listed as out despite being out of protocols, which suggests he needs some more time to ramp up for play. Malik Monk is available.

— Kyle Goon (@kylegoon) December 26, 2021

So we can infer from this that Bradley will need to work on his conditioning ahead of his return to the court.

The 31-year-old Bradley, a former two-time All-Defensive Teamer, has proven to be a surprisingly important perimeter piece for the Lakers on both sides of the ball. The 6'2" guard remains a reliable long-range shooter (he's connecting on 40% of his 3.3 three-point looks a night) and one of the better defenders on the team. 

His relatively pedestrian averages of 5.8 points, 2.5 rebounds, 0.8 assists and 0.8 steals across 23 minutes of action this season belie his true value to a 16-17 Lakers club that could use all the role player help it can get. Bradley had emerged as a starter for LA in the backcourt alongside Russell Westbrook, getting the nod in 21 of his 26 total games logged with LA this season. 

Bradley will be greatly missed in tonight's bout against a feisty Nets team that will be missing a whole boatload of contributors, including All-Stars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, due to injuries and COVID-19 health and safety protocols.

Only three Lakers -- Trevor Ariza, Kent Bazemore, and Austin Reaves -- remain in the NBA's coronavirus protocols as of this writing. In addition to Bradley's reconditioning-related absence, the Lakers will also be without injured All-Star big man Anthony Davis and perpetually-hurt guard Kendrick Nunn. That brings the grand total to six missing Lakers, including five rotation players. 

At least LA's first- and third-best players are healthy, however. The Nets are not quite so fortunate. The team is missing seven players due to the league's health and safety protocols, including its own first- and third-best players. An eighth Net, injured starting wing Joe Harris, remains sidelined indefinitely for Brooklyn.